The Lady in Red
by Northern-Southern Belle
Summary: After hearing an old Mystic Falls ghost story, Elena takes possession of a locket with the initials S.W.S., and then is attacked by someone who wants the locket back: A vampire named Selina, who was once Damon's fiancee... Damon/OC pairing
1. The Locket

Disclaimer: Only the characters not recognized from the televison show are mine!

"_The house was large and white, with green shutters and columns flanking either side of the front door. Above the front doors was the attic window. Instead of shutters, that window was hung with white lace curtains which swayed back and forth, even when there was no breeze. Despite the fact that it had been empty for 145 years, it was in near pristine condition. It was the kind of house that people avoided walking past at night; the kind of house that children dared each other to visit on Halloween. And of course it had a ghost._

_They called her the Lady in Red and she was seen in the attic window. She supposedly was the fiancée of one of the soldiers who had served Mystic Falls during the Civil War. Not much else was known about her except that her initials were S.W.S. She was connected in some way to the doctor who had owned the house. Some people said she was his wife by choice. Others said that she had unwillingly become his lover. The most common version of the story was that she'd gotten engaged to the soldier before he shipped out, and then once he was gone had caught a fever. The doctor told her mother that he might be able to save her, but only if he could take her to his house. He did so and she was cured. She was so grateful to him that when he proposed, heedless of the fact that she was already engaged to the soldier, she and the doctor eloped, and were never seen or heard from again._

_But there was another group who didn't see the Lady in Red as a villain. Instead of running off with the doctor, they believe that after she was cured of her fever, she rejected his proposal. Stung, he raped her, murdered her, and buried her heart somewhere on his property. That's why, they say, she stares out the attic window, and why there are holes in the front yard. She's looking for her heart, so she can be with her soldier as they couldn't be in life. _

_The doctor's dealings with the Lady in Red weren't his only shifty activities. When he first arrived in town, he had a large amount of money. People whispered that he was a doctor by day and a bank robber by night. And that he'd hidden his ill-gotten loot. And to this day, people still come to the house, thinking that they will be the one to find the supposedly lost treasure of Dr. Roger Stensrund, alias Bloody Roger._

* * *

"What do you think about that?" Jeremy put the journal down and looked up at Elena and Jenna.

"It's unbelievable," Elena replied. She took a sip of coffee and placed the cup back on the kitchen counter. "I can't believe people waste their time and energy looking for something that isn't even there."

Jenna smiled. "You know, when I was in high school I spent one Halloween night waiting for the Lady in Red. Me and some of my friends snuck up to the attic with pillows, sleeping bags and beer."

Jeremy placed the open book on his lap. "Did you see anything?"

Jenna shook her head. "No. However, I ended up with the worst hangover the next morning."

Jeremy shut the book. "Well, I believe in it. I think I'll go and get that metal detector I got for my birthday and see what I can find."

Elena looked out the window. "It's getting dark out. I'll go with you."

* * *

An hour later, Jeremy had covered nearly every inch of the front yard. He was on the last corner when the metal detector suddenly beeped. "I got something!" he cried.

"What is it?" Elena asked, more excited than she wanted to be.

Jeremy looked at the screen. "It looks like some sort of necklace. Do you have the shovel?" Elena nodded and the two of them took turns digging at the spot until they finally spotted the glint of metal. Elena pulled it out and studied it.

"It looks like a locket. And there's something written on the front." Despite the fact that the locket was incredibly tarnished, she could just make out three initials: "S.W.S.; didn't you say that those were the Lady in Red's initials?" Jeremy nodded. Elena paused and said to herself "_He buried her heart somewhere on the property…"_ she stared at it for a few moments.

"It would look good on you," Jeremy said to snap her out of the locket's spell.

Slowly, Elena put on the locket, and as she did so, her eyes traveled to the attic window. And for maybe half a second, she thought she saw a flash of red. She blinked and it was gone.

"I think we should go now Jer," she said, her voice shaky. "I don't think we're going to find anything else here."

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, just a little cold, that's all."

And as they left, a figure drew open the attic curtain and stared out. "It figures she knew where the locket was," she whispered. "But I'm going to get it back. She isn't going to take anything else from me."


	2. The Attack

Elena put the locket in her pocket and she and Jeremy got in the car and headed back to their house.

"So, did you guys find anything?" Jenna asked as she opened the front door.

Jeremy nodded. "We found a locket. It has the Lady in Red's initials on it."

Jenna's eyes widened. "Really? Let me see it!"

Elena took it out of her pocket and held it out. "You can't really see them clearly. I think the locket's pure silver. It's gotten really tarnished from being in the ground for so long."

Jenna took it and studied it. Turning it around, she noticed something on the back. "There's a date here," she exclaimed. "1864. Well, the story said that the Lady in Red's soldier fiancé served late in the war."

Elena inhaled sharply. "It's been in the ground for 145 years. Can you believe that?"

"No." Jenna shook her head. "You know, if we got the silver polish and made this shiny again, I bet the mayor would love to have it at the next Founder's Day celebration. The story of the Lady in Red is a big part of the town history and this locket is evidence that it could very well be true."

"Where is the silver polish?" Elena asked.

Jenna thought a moment. "I bet it's under the sink in the guest bathroom."

Elena found it quickly and the two of them commenced fixing up the locket. By the time they were finished, it didn't seem like it had ever been in the ground at all.

"It's beautiful," Elena whispered. "Do you think there's anything in it? Like a picture of the soldier?"

"Maybe," Jenna was looking at it just as intently. "You want to try and get it open?"

Elena found a nail file in her purse and tried for fifteen minutes to pry open the locket, but it wouldn't budge. "Too bad it's stuck," she said finally. "But even if we can't find out what's inside, at least it's still wearable." She put it on. "I'm going to run to the Grill. Bonnie said she needed to talk to me about something."

She took her purse, and headed out to her car. It didn't take her very long to reach the Grill, but the place was packed and the parking lot full, so she parked down the street and walked the rest of the way. As she headed into a nearby alley, she thought she heard a noise behind her. She turned around and saw someone standing in front of her, illuminated by a streetlamp, a girl with chin-length straight black hair and blue-gray eyes. She was wearing dark wash jeans and a purple v-neck blouse under a gray jacket.

"Hi," Elena said uneasily. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes," the girl's voice was soft and intense. "You can give me that locket."

Elena's hand flew up and grabbed it. "No, I found it. It's mine."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "All right, suit yourself." And with that, she rushed at Elena, grabbing the necklace, scratching and biting her neck, pulling her hair and hitting her face. And Elena was hitting the girl back. Finally, a voice seemed to come out of nowhere:

"Hey, who's there?"

The girl looked up and pulled herself off Elena. "Forget you saw me," she whispered, and then ran off before Elena could reply.

After the girl was gone, all Elena could do was lie there on the ground. Finally, a guy came over and pulled her up. "Are you all right?" he asked. "What happened?"

Elena blinked and shook her head. "I was attacked. A girl tried to steal my locket, but someone called out and she disappeared."

The man smiled. "That was me. Looks like she really did a number on you. Do you want me to take you to a hospital?"

Elena shook her head. "No, thanks. My car's not far away. I'll clean myself up and then get to a hospital, but thanks for offering."

The man smiled. "No problem. Take care of yourself."

Elena thanked him one more time and continued walking to the Grill. After washing all the extra blood off, she went into the main dining room where Bonnie sat waiting at a table. When she saw Elena, Bonnie's eyes widened.

"My God, what happened to you?"

Elena collapsed into a chair. "I don't really know. Well, I do, but I don't understand why. See, Jeremy was reading one of our ancestor's journals and it talked about this old ghost story about the Lady in Red and how crazy old Dr. Stensrund buried both stolen money and her heart on his property. Jeremy and I went looking to see if we could find anything. We found this." She held up the locket. "It has the same initials as in the story, and the correct time frame is engraved on the back. And then, when I was walking here to meet you, some girl in the alley attacks me and tries to get it back."

"But why would she want it?" Bonnie asked.

Elena shrugged. "I don't know, but I think I know someone who might."

* * *

After saying goodbye to Bonnie, Elena drove to the boardinghouse. When Stefan answered her knock, his reaction was the same as Bonnie's.

"What happened to you? Are you all right?"

Elena nodded. "I'm fine now. When I was on my way to meet Bonnie at the Grill, a girl attacked me in the alley. She was trying to get this." She unclasped the locket, removed it, and held it out to him.

He took it, looked it over, and said with amazement, "where did you get this?"

"Jeremy and I found it," she said quietly. "He and I took his metal detector and went out to Dr. Stensrund's old house because Jeremy wanted to try and find the treasure that everyone thinks is there."

"But you didn't find anything," Stefan said, "except this?" he held up the locket.

Elena nodded. "Yeah. The story of the Lady in Red says that Dr. Stensrund killed her and buried her heart somewhere on his property. I figure this is what that means." She paused. "Stefan, do you know anything about this? Do you know why the girl in the alley attacked me trying to get it back?"

Stefan nodded. "I do. Wait here for a minute." He disappeared and Elena sat on one of the parlor couches, waiting for him to come back and wondering what he was going to tell her. When he came back, he was holding a picture. He sat next to her, and turned it around so she could see it. "Elena, is this the girl who attacked you?"

Elena breathed in sharply. Although the picture was black and white, and although the girl was wearing different clothes, it was definitely her. "Yeah, that's her. Who was she?"

Stefan sighed. "Her name was Selina Warren. She was Katherine's half-sister and Damon's fiancée. She got a fever, went to Dr. Stensrund's house to be cured, and neither Damon nor I ever heard from her again."


	3. In Search of the Lady in Red

Elena frowned. "What do you mean when you say you never heard from her again?"

Stefan shrugged. "Exactly what you think I mean. See, by 1864, Selina had been living with us on and off for the last four years. Just before she came down with her fever, Katherine's father sent Selina a letter saying that Katherine was coming to visit, and that it was Selina's job to show her a good time."

"How did she feel about that?"

Stefan looked at the picture again. "Not well at all. The very thought of Katherine coming anywhere near her made her paranoid. Selina told me that I'd have to watch myself during her visit because she was tricky, manipulative, and completely lacking human emotion. Or if I didn't, she'd watch me for my own good."

Elena sat back on the couch and motioned for Stefan to give her the picture. She took it and ran her hands over it, staring at the girl's face. "Why'd she feel that way?"

"Well," Stefan said after a moment, "like I told you before, Selina and Katherine were half-sisters. Their mother Amelia had Selina first, then her husband Matthew went off to fight in the Mexican-American war a few months after Selina was born."

"And was he killed in action?" Elena's eyes were still on the picture.

Stefan nodded. "He was. And after the proper period of mourning, Amelia married Mr. Pierce despite the fact that he was much older than she was and her relatives disapproved of the match, saying that he was only after her money. And the next year, they had Katherine, and that's when all the trouble started. Mr. Pierce doted on Katherine, but he didn't pay any attention to Selina. He made her sleep in the attic and attend to Katherine's every whim."

Elena looked up. "He turned his stepdaughter into Cinderella? That's original."

Stefan smiled wanly. "I think it was because Selina's father was a war hero and that made Mr. Pierce feel incredibly insecure. Finally, one morning he came to Selina's room incredibly drunk and babbling nonsense, and hit her, then left the room. When her mother found out, she sent Selina to live with her family, and then after that, a finishing school that was near her house. That's how she came to live with us."

Elena put the picture on the coffee table. "No wonder she attacked me if she thought I was Katherine. I'd be mad too if I had to live the way she did."

"Don't get me wrong, Elena. She wasn't unhappy all the time. In fact, after she moved in with us, she got better. And four years later, she was eighteen, and Damon had enlisted to fight for the confederacy. But before he shipped out, he proposed to her. But he told me first and swore me to secrecy. He wanted it to be a surprise…"

"_All right, I did it Stefan. I've enlisted to defend the Confederacy." Damon swaggered into the kitchen with the air of a knight coming home after slaying a dragon._

"_Really?" I smiled. "That's wonderful. And so selfless of you." I looked out the window to where Selina sat in the rose garden. "Have you told Selina yet?"_

_Damon sat down and shook his head. "No. But I'm going to have to of course, and gently after what happened with her father. But I have a feeling that after I show her the present I got her, she won't be so upset."_

_My eyes widened. "What present?"_

_Damon grinned and pulled a small box out of his jacket pocket, opening it and showing me the contents: a silver locket with the initials S.W.S. engraved on the front._

"_That's beautiful."_

_Damon nodded. "Pure silver. Cost me a fortune, but I figure that when a man proposes to the woman he loves more than life itself, it better be with something good."_

_Stefan's eyes widened further. "You're going to propose to her?" My voice rose significantly in pitch and no doubt carried through the screen door to the garden, which happened to be slightly ajar. Thankfully though, Selina made no indication that she'd heard anything._

"_Shhhh! Will you be quiet! I want it to be a surprise. I'm going to ask her after dinner tonight."_

_I stood up as Damon put the locket back in his jacket pocket. "I think I'll go upstairs and read a book."_

_Damon nodded. "All right, but remember: Don't tell Selina anything!"_

"Awwww! That's so sweet!" Elena knew that she shouldn't butt in at this point in the story but she couldn't help herself. It was just so romantic. "Hard to believe Damon was ever like that."

Stefan nodded. "Sometimes I think that if he just saw Selina again, everything would get back to normal. Anyway, that night, things went as planned. After dinner, Damon told Selina he wanted to meet with her in the garden:

"_Selina, I have something very serious I need to discuss with you," Damon's voice was grave as he led her back to the bench near the rose bed._

"_What is it?" Selina asked nervously. _

_He sat her down on the bench and sighed. "I have some good news and some bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"_

_Breathing deeply, the girl thought a moment. "The bad news," she said finally. "It's always good to get that out of the way." She had red roses in her hair that matched the color of her dress. When Damon put his hand out, she took it._

"_I signed up at the recruitment office today, Selina. I'm going to defend the Confederacy."_

_Selina smiled and took his other hand. "I thought you said you had bad news to tell me. This is good news. I'm so proud of you."_

"_Really?" Damon was surprised. This wasn't the reaction he'd expected._

_Selina nodded. "You'll be just like my father, fighting for a noble cause."_

_Damon nodded. "Well, I was expecting you to be more upset so I could give you something to make the separation easier."_

_Selina laughed. "Even though I'm not upset, can I have it anyway?"_

_Damon smiled. "Oh, all right. I suppose you can." He took the box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She opened it and gasped at the sight of the locket. _

"_Oh, God. That's beautiful." She read the front. "S.W.S.?" she looked at him. "Does this mean what I think it means?"_

_Damon nodded and got down on one knee. "Selina Warren, will you marry me and become Selina Warren Salvatore?"_

_Selina nodded. "Of course I will!" she smiled and threw herself into his arms._

"_Stefan," Damon called, "she said yes! Come out and hug your future sister-in-law!"_

_As soon as I appeared, she turned away from him to hug me too. "Did you know about this, Stefan?" she asked. _

_I nodded. "That's why I've been upstairs all day. I was ordered not to give away the surprise."_

_She laughed. "Well, you did a wonderful job." Then, she stepped away and looked at both of us. "I don't think I'll ever be happier than I am at this moment."_

"But something went wrong. She got sick, didn't she?"

Stefan nodded. "She did. A few days before Katherine was to arrive at the house, she got a fever. Her mother convinced Mr. Pierce to let her come back to their house and recover. Before Katherine left, she gave her a note to give to Damon telling him that Selina was sick. She must have disposed of it though, because when she arrived, she didn't have anything to give him, except the news that Selina had gotten sick, been cured, and then eloped with the doctor who'd overseen her care."

"And Damon believed her? He believed just her word that Selina, the girl he supposedly loved more than life itself, had cheated on him?"

"Well," Stefan thought a moment. "I think she used her powers on him to make him believe that. And then once that happened, the thought of Selina betraying him hurt so much, he got comfort from the first person who would give it to him."

Elena got up and sat in the chair next to his. "Did you believe her?"

Stefan shook his head. "No, I didn't. Not for a second. Anyone who'd ever seen him and Selina together wouldn't believe it either. But, for better or worse, Damon believed her, and still believes her to this day."

Elena looked at the locket again. "And now Selina is the Lady in Red. Katherine made her look like a villain, but who came up with the other story?"

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know. When Selina attacked you, she was solid, right?"

Elena nodded. "Oh, yes."

"And people say that they see her in Dr. Stensrund's old house, right?"

Elena nodded. "Yes…Stefan what are you getting at?"

Stefan stood up. "I think we should go see her."

"What? Stefan, are you insane?! She attacked me! She hates my guts!"

"Only because she thinks you're Katherine. Once she finds out you aren't and gets the locket back, she will return to being her fundamentally decent, friendly self." Stefan was already at the back door. When he realized she wasn't following him, he turned around. "Are you coming?"

Elena grabbed the locket. "All right, but I still think that this is insane and one of us is going to come out of it very, very sorry."

Stefan took her hand. "Just trust me, all right?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Elena was once again pulling up to the front of Dr. Stensrund's old house. Stefan parked the car in the driveway and led her inside.

"Where do the stories say the Lady in Red usually haunts?" he asked.

Elena thought a moment. "The attic. Or the parlor on the second floor."

They tried the attic and found nothing, but as they got closer and closer to the parlor, they began to hear music. "Is that 'I will Always Love You'?" Elena whispered.

Stefan nodded. "Yes, and she was playing 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' a few minutes ago."

Elena couldn't help but smile. "She's not exactly up on the latest music, is she?"

Stefan shushed her as they reached the parlor entryway. Sure enough, they saw the figure of a girl looking out the open window. She was still wearing the same outfit Elena had seen her in earlier.

Stefan knocked lightly on the wall.

"Who's there?" the girl turned and suddenly the room filled with light. She looked at the pair of them, stepped forward, blinked.

"Stefan," she said finally, "is that you?"


	4. Together Again

Slowly the girl smiled. "What am I saying? Of course it's you!" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Surprised, he resisted for a moment, but then relaxed and returned her hug. Finally she pulled away. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Then, she noticed Elena. "And I see you brought _her_," she continued, circling Elena and glaring at her. "Why'd you have to do that? It wrecks the whole moment."

Stefan sighed. "Selina, this isn't Katherine. Katherine died a long time ago, in a fire."

Selina's eyes lit up. "Katherine's dead? As in gone? As in I'm never going to have to see her ever again?" She began to do a little dance, chanting "ding dong the witch is dead". This went on for quite some time until Stefan finally cleared his throat and she stopped. She glanced at him sheepishly. "Sorry about that." Then, she looked at Elena. "If you're not Katherine, who are you?"

"I'm Elena Gilbert," Elena replied. Then she took the locket out of her pocket and handed it to Selina. "And I think this belongs to you."

"Thank you." Selina took the locket, touching every inch and gazing at it intently as if she wanted to make sure it was really there. "I haven't seen this in a long time. But how come it looks so nice? Wouldn't it be tarnished after being in the ground for so long?"

"After my brother and I found it, we brought it home with us and took the silver polish to it."

Selina smiled and put it on. "Well, thanks again."

Stefan took one of Selina's hands. "How is it that I'm a little surprised to see you here, but you don't seem so surprised to see me?"

"Just a minute." Selina left the room and came back a minute later, holding a yellowing paper lightly between her thumb and forefinger. "Once I saw this," she explained, setting it down on the table, "I knew it was only a matter of time."

It was an issue of the town paper. The headline read "**Salvatore Brothers Escort Miss Katherine Pierce to First Founder's Day Ball"**.

"And I was right," she continued matter-of-factly. "Here you are. Am I right in assuming that she turned Damon as well?"

Stefan nodded. "Yes, she did." He looked at the paper again. "How did you get this?"

Selina laughed without humor. "It's a funny story really. After I escaped from Dr. Stensrund's house, my bloodlust still wasn't completely under control. In order to stop myself from accidently hurting anyone, I hid out in the woods. I don't know how long, maybe about six months. My diet consisted mainly of rabbits and squirrels and the occasional deer. One day, my cousin Michael came upon me while I was feeding. I thought he was going to stake me. That was the rule. But for some reason, he spared me, saying as long as he and descendants of his walked this earth, I could stay in this town and be safe. And then he gave me this." She gestured at the paper. "Once I saw it, everything became clear again. I left the woods, came back here, attacked Dr. Stensrund until he was almost completely drained of blood, and then I staked him. I've been spending his money and drinking from his liquor cabinet ever since. Well, except for the twenties when I left town to see the world, but that's an entirely different story."

She paused and looked at Elena and Stefan who were gazing at her with amazement. "Are you two going to say anything or are you just going to stand there and gape at me?"

Stefan blinked. "Sorry about that. It's just that I had no idea about any of this."

Selina nodded. "Of course you didn't. Katherine made sure of that." She looked at Elena. "Oh, and I'm sorry about attacking you earlier. I just had some issues with my sister. Really big issues. I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

Elena shook her head. "Nothing too bad, just some cuts and scratches."

Selina breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Say, the two of you didn't happen to bring anyone else with you, did you?"

"You mean Damon?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "Him. The man who proposed to me, and then the moment I was out of the picture, went after my sister."

Stefan sat beside her. "Katherine used her powers to get him to believe that you cheated on him and eloped with Dr. Stensrund while he was away fighting. And he still believes it to this day."

Selina sighed. "Of course he does."

"But you still want to see him, don't you?" Elena asked.

Selina nodded. "I know I'm probably a glutton for punishment, but I do. I don't know why. For closure, maybe."

Stefan put his arms around her. "You know, he still carries around the picture you gave him the day he shipped out."

"Really?" Selina asked, surprised.

"Really." Stefan answered. "So I think there's still a part of him that loves you."

"And I know how you can prove it," Elena said. "Next week is Halloween and there's a town wide party every year over at the school. People usually come in costume, and if you have one of your old dresses, you can wear it, and maybe he'll see you, the old feelings will come flooding back, and it'll be like nothing ever happened."

Selina looked at her, surprised. "Do you think that'll work?"

Elena shrugged. "It's worth a shot, don't you think?"

* * *

A week later, Stefan returned to the boardinghouse after meeting with Selina for one last time before the party, and was surprised to find Damon in the parlor. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "It's Halloween. I thought you'd be out terrorizing the locals or something."

Damon stood up. "As a matter of fact, I _am_ going out tonight. That Halloween party they put on will just be full of girls ripe for the picking."

As Stefan smirked, Damon frowned. "What?"

"I know something you don't know," he said.

"Would you mind telling me what that is?"

Stefan just laughed again. "It's a surprise. You'll find out at the party."

Stefan picked up Elena and the two of them headed to Dr. Stensrund's house for Selina. When they came in, they didn't see Selina waiting for them.

"Selina," Stefan called, "are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Selina called back. "I look really good and I want to make an entrance."

A few seconds later, she appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing a very familiar red dress and red stones in her hair. As she descended the staircase, the look on Stefan's face made her smile. "Looks like I've still got it. Do you think it'll work on your brother?"

He nodded. "If it doesn't, he's crazy." Just as she was about to head out the door, he put a hand on her arm. "Just a minute," he said, "I have something to give you." He handed her a box and she opened it to find a dozen long-stemmed red roses.

"My God," she gasped. "Stefan, these are beautiful!"

"Well, happy birthday," he told her. "I just wanted to let you know that I remembered."

She smiled. "Thank you." After Selina put them into a vase, the trio got into Stefan's car and headed to the party.

* * *

The festivities were well underway by the time they arrived. Stefan dropped Selina and Elena off at the front entrance and then left to park the car. The girls went inside and separated, Elena heading to the dance floor, and Selina looking for a seat so that she could compose herself. It had been awhile since she'd been in a group this big. There was one table she saw that had available seating, a woman dressed like a flapper was sitting alone and she seemed to be waiting for someone.

"Hi," Selina greeted her as she approached the table. "Great costume. Let me guess: Daisy Buchannan?"

The woman nodded. "Yes! And you must be Scarlett O'Hara!"

Selina smiled. "In a hoop-skirted ballgown who else would I be? Would you mind if I sat here?"

The woman shook her head. "No, of course not. Be my guest. I've never seen you around before. I'm Mrs. Lockwood, the mayor's wife."

Selina shook her hand. "I just arrived. I'm Sophia Warren."

The woman eyed her curiously. "Warren? We had some Warrens in this town awhile back, but they've all died out. Would you be related to them, perhaps?"

Selina nodded. "Matthew Warren had an older brother Andrew. Their father disowned Andrew after he elected to quit the family law practice and seek more lucrative and exciting business opportunities up north. That's the branch I come from."

Mrs. Lockwood smiled. "That is so interesting. I had no idea."

"Well, I'll tell you what," Selina told her, "not a lot of people do. I'm just here to explore the family roots."

Just then, Mrs. Lockwood's eyes left Selina's.

"What is it?" Selina asked.

"Here comes a friend of mine with drinks," Mrs. Lockwood explained.

Selina followed her gaze and saw that Damon was coming toward the table with a drink in each hand. Just as she turned, he looked up, into her eyes. His widened and both drinks went tumbling to the floor, the glasses shattering. Taking no notice of the mess he'd just made, he strode over to Selina and breathed "Oh, my God, Seli-"he was beginning to be overwhelmed. It really was her. She was wearing the same dress she'd worn the night they'd gotten engaged.

"Sophia," she corrected him, "Sophia Warren. I just got here."

"Right," he collapsed into the chair across from her, not saying a word.

"Damon," Mrs. Lockwood asked, looking concerned, "are you all right?"

"Sure," he replied, sitting up, "I just need to run to the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute."

And he dashed off without another word. Instead of going to the bathroom, however, he set out in search of his brother. When he found him, he immediately asked "did you know Selina was going to be here tonight?"

Stefan nodded. "Of course I did. That was the surprise."

Damon frowned. "You could have warned me, you know."

Stefan smiled. "I could have, but then you probably wouldn't have come. Now get back there and talk to her, ask her to dance, something, anything at all!"

"Right!" Still a little dazed, Damon made his way back to the table.

"Any better?" Selina asked him.

Damon took a deep breath and finally was able to look at her again. "Yeah, everything's great."

At that moment, the band started up a slow song. Selina stood up. Walking over to Damon she said carefully, "I know we don't know each other very well, but would you do me the honor of a dance?"

Damon took her hand. "It would be my pleasure."

As they danced, the other couples cleared the floor. It was as if there was no one in the world but the two of them. "This is nice," Selina whispered.

"Yeah," Damon agreed. "And by the way, happy birthday. Sorry I didn't bring you anything."

Selina shook her head. "It's okay. This dance is more than enough."

As Stefan and Elena watched, he said to her, "See, I told you. He just needed to see her again and everything would work out just as it should." They left the room and headed outside.

As the song ended, Damon and Selina separated and the world came rushing back. He offered to go get her a drink. As soon as he was gone, Elena came running up to her, covered in blood.

"Elena, what's happened?" she asked.

"Something terrible," Elena answered. "Stefan needs your help outside."

Selina followed Elena out to the back of the school where Stefan was struggling to keep hold on a wildly thrashing girl. "Stefan," Selina asked as soon as she reached him, "what's going on? What happened to Elena?"

"Vickie attacked her. She just barely managed to get away."

Selina inspected the wildly thrashing girl. "New vampire?"

Stefan nodded, gripping tighter as, at the sight of Elena, the girl's movements became more frantic.

"Do you think she'll be able to be tamed?" Selina asked.

Stefan shook his head. "No, that's why I think the best thing to do would be to stake her before she kills somebody. You hold her down."

Selina's eyes widened. "Stefan, you can't be serious!"

"I am," he replied gravely and grabbed a tree branch, plunging it into Vickie's chest. As soon as the deed was done, Selina let her down to the ground and then looked up at Stefan and Elena, who was still covered in blood.

"Who did this to her?" she asked.

They looked at one another, knowing that Selina wouldn't like the answer.

"Damon did it," Stefan said finally. "He was trapped in the house one day without his ring and that's how he spent his time."

"What?" Selina's voice shook.

"It's true," Elena agreed. "She was a mess before. He told me that she'd thank him for it someday."

"My God," Selina could barely talk and tears were running down her cheeks. "I don't believe this."

Stefan took her hand, pulled her up, and put his arms around her. "Do you want to go home now?"

She nodded.

"Go inside," he told her. "Elena and I will be along in a minute."

She nodded and went inside, rooting around in her purse for a tissue.

"Are you all right?" a voice behind her asked. "What's the matter?"

She looked up and saw Damon staring back at her. She felt her tears start to dry up. "Don't talk to me," she told him. "Stefan's going to be back in a few moments, and then I'm going home."

Damon put his hands on her shoulders. "Again I ask, what's the matter?"

"Why the hell should you care?" she asked. "And don't touch me," she maneuvered herself out of his grasp.

Damon sighed. "Fine, I'll leave you alone. But we're going to talk about this later."

* * *

Alone in her room, Selina lay on her bed, and cried into her pillow. Suddenly, the door opened, and Damon strode into the room. "All right, now tell me: what's wrong with you?"

Selina sat up and wiped her eyes. "You know, it's customary to knock before you enter somebody's room."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Selina sighed. "Stefan told me about that Vickie girl you turned."

Damon came over and sat on the bed next to her. "Is that what this is about? That was nothing. I was bored. I wanted to have a little fun and there she was. What's the problem with that?"

"The problem," Selina answered, "Is your complete and utter lack of regard for other people. You used to be such a good person. But Katherine really screwed you up, didn't she? She turned you into a cruel heartless psycho, just like her. Maybe you two really do belong together."

Damon stood up quickly. "Well, maybe we do. And don't you _ever_ talk about her that way."

Selina frowned at him. "Did it ever occur to you to tell her that when she was telling you all the lies about me?"

He scowled at her, but said nothing as he left the room. As soon as he was gone, Selina buried herself under her covers, and whispered to herself "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…"


	5. Go Fish

The first thing Selina noticed when she woke up was the frost on the windows. She groaned and managed to pull herself out of bed, even though it was warmer there. It wasn't that she felt the cold, but the thought of it still made her feel depressed. And that it happened to be the middle of the day. As she was getting dressed, she noticed the date on her wall-calendar: it was Stefan's birthday. Once she'd put on a pair of socks, she went to his room and knocked.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Why are you up so early?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. I think a bird froze and then hit my window. Can you believe the glass is frosting over already?"

He smiled. "It _is _November, Selina. That's when things start to get cold. A little frost shouldn't surprise you."

"Can I come in?" she asked him.

He nodded and motioned for her to come inside.

She entered and sat down on his bed. "That's not the real reason I came over here," she informed him, bouncing a little on his mattress.

He sat down beside her. "What was the real reason?"

She smiled. "When I was getting dressed, I noticed the date on my wall-calendar." She pulled a box out of the pocket of her jeans and gave it to him. "Happy birthday, Stefan."

He looked at the box in amazement. "You still remember my birthday?"

She nodded. "Well, you remembered mine, didn't you? And since you and Damon were gone from my life for so long, every time one of you had a birthday over the years, I would buy you a present, wrap it up, and then pretend you were there to open it. It's kind of pathetic I know, but it got me through some tough times."

Stefan put the box down on the bed and gave her a hug. "It's not pathetic. It's a way to cope."

Selina smiled and moved his arm. "Thanks, but enough of my problems. Go ahead and see what you got."

He opened the box, and slowly removed a gold watch. "Selina, you really didn't have to do this, you know," he told her after staring at it in silence for a moment.

"I know I didn't," she replied. "But I wanted to anyway. So, do you have plans to go out, or do you just want to stay in today?"

"Well," he told her, "an old friend of mine actually came to visit."

"Really?" she asked.

He smiled. "Yeah, I think the two of you will get along great. Let me see if I can go find her."

Selina nodded. "All right, and I'll go see if I can find your brother." They separated and she headed straight for Damon's bedroom. He was there a lot nowadays, trying to hide from her, she guessed. When she found his door, she threw it open, as was her custom.

"Damon, have you told your brother…" her voice trailed off when she noticed that there was a girl in his bed and that she had him by the throat. "Sorry," Selina muttered quickly. "I didn't know anyone else was in here. I'll go now."

"No, Selina," Damon's voice was strangled. "A little help here, sweetie?"

"Sweetie?" Selina turned around. "You _hate _me, remember? You've been avoiding me ever since Halloween." She walked further into the room and stood next to the bed, staring down at him. "And now that you've done something dumb and are rightfully getting punished for it you suddenly want to get on my good side? I think I'll leave you right where you are." Just as she turned to leave, however, the girl let him go.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Some girl he turned and is keeping around?"

Selina scoffed. "If he'd turned me, we'd probably be getting along now. I'm Selina. I was his fiancée before the 'incident'."

The girl nodded. "I'm Lexi, Stefan's friend. So, you were engaged to him?" she indicated Damon.

Selina nodded. "Yeah, but then I got sick and he went after my sister."

Lexi grimaced. "Katherine was your _sister_? I've been telling Stefan for years that if I ever met her I'd punch her face in. I can only imagine how you feel. So," she looked at Damon again. "If you wanna vent, I'll hold him down."

Selina grinned wickedly. "You know, that's not a bad idea."

At that point, Stefan entered the room. "What's going on here?" he asked.

Selina and Lexi looked at one another and then Lexi released Damon. "Nothing," they said together. As they stepped away, Damon finally sat up.

"I'm going to go far away from here," he said. "I might be back later." He glared at the girls. "Or I might not." He eased himself off the bed and left the room.

"So," Stefan observed, "I see the two of you have met."

Lexi nodded, grinning. "I like her. She hates Katherine as much as I do. So, what do you wanna do with what's left of your birthday?"

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know. Let's just play things by ear, shall we?"

Selina looked from Lexi to Stefan and came to a decision. "You know," she said, looking at Lexi, "Stefan told me that the two of you were old friends. You probably haven't seen each other in awhile and have a lot of catching up to do. I think I'll leave you alone."

"We wouldn't mind if you came," Lexi told her.

Selina shook her head. "No, the two of you enjoy. Unlike Damon, I _will _be back later. Maybe we can do something then."

Before giving either of them a chance to reply, she headed out the door, and began the walk to Mystic Grill. It took her twenty minutes and as soon as she stepped in the door, she made a beeline for an empty booth, scrunching herself in the corner and staring at the menu.

"Hey," a voice came out of nowhere and interrupted her thoughts. "You're Sophia Warren, aren't you?" She put the menu down and looked up to see an attractive boy with dark hair and brown eyes. He looked vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place him.

"Hey yourself," she said finally. "You know, I feel like I've seen you somewhere, but I just can't put my finger on it."

He took a seat on the bench next to her. "It was probably at the Halloween party. The woman you were sitting next to most of the night was my mother. I'm a Lockwood."

"_Oh_," Selina's eyes widened. He was a Lockwood? That explained everything.

He grinned. "My name's Tyler. Can I get you something to drink?"

"As long as you're offering a Coke would be nice."

He winked. "All right then, one Coke, coming up."

He came back with it and sat it down in front of her. "You know, this may sound strange, but I feel like I've seen _you_ somewhere before too."

"At the Halloween party?" she guessed.

He shook his head. "No, somewhere else. Listen, where are you planning on going after you finish your Coke?"

She shrugged. "Nowhere special."

"Do you want to go dancing? I saw you with that guy at the party. You know, you're really good."

"Yeah," she nodded. "He was my fiancée, but we sort of grew apart. I've been trying to make things work, but I think I'm going to be moving out of his house pretty soon."

"The two of you are living together?" Tyler asked, surprised.

She nodded.

"That's rough."

"If the offer still stands," she said, looking up at him, "I'd love to go dancing with you."

She arrived at the house a couple of hours later. Stefan and Lexi were seated on either side of the coffee table playing cards. "What happened to you to keep you out so late?" Lexi asked.

"I went out and met a guy," Selina said. "We went dancing."

"Ahhh." Lexi picked a card off the top of the deck. "Do you want us to deal you in?" she asked.

"What are you playing?"

"Go Fish."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Selina replied and seated herself at the end of the coffee table.

They'd played six games when Damon walked in the door. "Are you still here?" he scowled at Selina. "You live to irritate me don't you?"

"That's it," Selina put down her cards and walked right up to him until she was practically in his face. "You can think I'm irritating. You can think I'm a backstabber. Hell, you can think I'm a two-timing whore for all I care. But sooner or later, you're going to realize once and for all that me and that girl in the picture under your mattress are the same person, and when you do, I'll be here for you. You know why? Because even though you've been nothing but a jackass for the last 145 years, my last birthday being a rare exception, there's a part of me that still loves you." And with that, she strode from the room without another word.


	6. There's No Place Like Home

The next day, Lexi told Selina that she was planning to have a small belated birthday gathering for Stefan at the Grill.

"That sounds like fun," Selina commented. "Maybe I can cajole his brother into coming with me. Even if they hate each other, the least one can do is be there for the other on his birthday."

Lexi nodded and headed out the door. Selina headed into the living room, where Damon sat on the couch. "Lexi's gonna throw a late birthday party for Stefan at the Grill. Do you want to come with me?"

"And what happens if I say I don't want to?" he asked. "Are the two of you going to hogtie me and drag me there?"

Selina put her hands on her hips. "Okay, I'm sorry about yesterday. But I still think you should come. There's going to be cake."

He smirked. "That's the best incentive you can come up with?"

She sat down on the couch next to him. "I just thought I'd throw it out there. I'll leave you to think it over."

Just as she was getting up to leave, there was a knock at the front door. Selina ran into the hallway and peeked around the edge, hoping the person on the other side of the door wouldn't see her. Damon went to answer it, and to Selina's surprise, it was the Sheriff. But Damon didn't seem as surprised to see her. They talked about something, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Eventually, the Sheriff left and Damon shut the door behind her.

"So," he asked, appearing suddenly beside her. "Hear anything you like?"

She shook her head. "I didn't hear anything. Are you up to something?"

He looked at her for a moment. "The sheriff is concerned about the vampire problem in town, and I've offered to help her out. Oh, and one more thing, I think I _will_ go to Stefan's party with you. What time does it start?"

"Lexi said seven."

"All right then," he gave her a wolfish smile. "Meet you at the car at six-forty."

* * *

When Selina and Damon arrived at the Grill, she flagged down Lexi, and he headed straight for the bar. The Sheriff was sitting at a barstool and watching him. Something was up between them that made Selina feel vaguely uneasy.

"Stefan," Selina asked when he came up to her, "do you know what's going on between Sheriff Forbes and your brother? I asked him and he said something about helping her out with the town's vampire problem."

Stefan shook his head. "I have no idea, but knowing him it's probably nothing good."

Eventually though, the festivities got underway and any thoughts of the goings on between the sheriff and Damon were swept from Selina's brain. She and Stefan shared a few dances and then she shot three games of pool with Elena, winning twice. Just as Elena was racking up for the fourth, Damon and the Sheriff caught Selina's eye again. They were huddled together, whispering to one another and occasionally gesturing at the booth where Lexi sat with Stefan. Finally, they pulled apart and strode towards the booth.

"That's her, Sheriff," Damon said, making a grand gesture at Lexi. "Here's the vampire that's been terrorizing our town."

With that, the sheriff, Damon, and three deputies hauled Lexi up and dragged her out back behind the restaurant. Excusing herself from the pool table, Selina went with Stefan to see what was going on.

"Damon, what the hell are you doing?" Selina asked.

He pulled a stake out from behind his back and put it against Lexi's chest. "You wouldn't understand."

Without giving it any thought, Selina felt herself run at him and push Lexi out of the way. "Don't do this. If you're going to stake some vampire to save the town, stake me instead."

He said nothing, but looked at her for a long moment, then shook his head. He grabbed Lexi and plunged the stake into her chest. "It's all part of my plan," he whispered, his hand on Selina's shoulder. "You have nothing to do with it."

She couldn't think of anything to say to that. Finally, she settled for turning on her heel and walking away.

* * *

When Damon and Stefan arrived back at the boardinghouse, they heard noise from Selina's room. Stefan went up to see what was going on. He opened the door and noticed clothes strewn all over the floor. Selina was grabbing shirts, skirts and jeans out off the floor and throwing them into suitcases, all while talking to someone on a headset.

"I'm finally doing it," she said to whoever was on the other end of the line. "I can't deal with him anymore. Really? That's so sweet. When can you come and pick me up? All right. I'll be ready at ten tomorrow morning. See you then, Tyler."

She took the headset off and then looked up to see Stefan staring at her.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm moving out, Stefan. I can't live with your brother anymore. This is really better for everyone. He can continue worshipping my sister, and I don't have to watch it."

"Where are you planning on going?"

"I'm moving in with Tyler. He said his parents wouldn't mind."

Stefan stepped into the room, took the clothes out of the suitcase, and put them on her bed. "Look at me, Selina. You don't really want to do this. You're just upset. And besides, you've only known the guy for two days!"

She nodded. "Oh, yes I do. And he's a Lockwood, so it's not like he's a total stranger."

He shook his head. "No you don't. Tyler's father is the head of the Founder's Council. If he finds out you're a vampire, they're going to hunt you down and stake you just like they did with Lexi."

She nodded more vigorously. "Yes, I do. Stefan, I know what I'm doing and I promise I'll be safe."

Seeing that he wasn't going to change her mind, he left the room and went downstairs. "Selina's moving out," he informed his brother.

"Oh, good!" Damon brightened. "Does she need help packing?"

Stefan frowned. "She's moving in with Tyler Lockwood and his parents. She says she'll be safe there."

Damon's smile disappeared as suddenly as it had come. "Tyler Lockwood? What does she want to move in with him for?"

Stefan couldn't help but smile a little. "I believe she thinks she's in love with him. Do you want to go up and tell her she's making a big mistake and see if you can succeed where I failed?"

Damon shook his head. "No," he said. "If she wants to go, I won't stand in her way. Making a stupid mistake might do her some good."

"Tyler's coming to pick her up at ten tomorrow."

Damon just nodded and went to his room.

* * *

When Tyler came by to pick up Selina, Damon and Stefan were waiting by the front door.

"What are you guys doing here? Want to make one last bid to convince me to stay?"

"Yes," Stefan said.

Damon waited to say something until Tyler's car pulled up. "Have a nice life. But if things don't work out, don't come crying to me."

Selina breathed in sharply. "Oh, I almost forgot," she undid the clasp on the locket and put it in his hand. "A little something to remember me by."

Outside, the horn honked. "Coming," Selina called, trying to position all her suitcases so she wouldn't have to make more than one trip. Finally she got it under control and headed out the door with one last goodbye to Damon and Stefan.

* * *

Once she and Tyler were on the road, Selina breathed a sigh of relief. "You don't know how grateful I am to be out of there!" She exclaimed.

Tyler smiled and took one hand off the wheel. "I bet I do," he told her. "My parents can't wait to meet you."

"Are you _sure_ they're okay with me moving in?" she asked. "After all, we've only known each other a couple of days."

He nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

Finally, the two of them reached the Lockwood Mansion and after Tyler parked his car in the garage, they headed inside.

Looking around, Selina felt a sense of peace, like she'd come home. "It hasn't changed a bit," she whispered.

"What?" Tyler asked.

Selina shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking about how nice this house looks."

"Well," Tyler smiled. "This house has been here a long time. Great-great Grandpa Michael and his family were the first people to live in it."

Just then, his parents entered the room. "Tyler," Mrs. Lockwood exclaimed, "I see you brought Sophia with you." She eyed her husband who followed in her wake. "Charles, this is Sophia Warren, a descendant of Andrew Warren, Matthew's older brother. Did you know Matthew Warren had an older brother?"

Mr. Lockwood saw Selina and froze. "Tyler, would you come with me for a second?" he asked.

Tyler followed his father into a nearby den and the two of them sat down on a couch. "What's wrong, Dad?" he asked. "You were the one who said she could live here."

"I know I did," he said. "But she's not who she says she is."

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked.

"I mean," Mr. Lockwood said, "She can't be a descendant of Andrew Warren because he had three children and none of them lived past infancy."

"So is she crazy or what?" Tyler asked.

Mr. Lockwood shook his head. "No, she isn't crazy." He got up and went to the master bedroom, coming back a moment later carrying a dusty but otherwise fairly well-preserved journal. "This was Great-grandfather Michael's," he said. "His aunt Amelia married Matthew Warren in 1845 and they had a daughter Selina." He rifled through the pages of the journal and pulled out a small photo. "And here she is. Does she look like anyone you know?"

Tyler's eyes widened. "She's a vampire? Does that mean we have to kill her? Is that why you let me bring her here?"

Mr. Lockwood replaced the photo in the journal, and shook his head. "No," he said, "we can't kill her. Michael promised that as long as he and his descendants walked this earth, she could stay in this town and be safe."

"So what are we going to do?" Tyler asked.

"Exactly what Michael wanted," Mr. Lockwood said simply. "We'll keep her here with us. Because she's family, and home, where she belongs."


	7. A New Greek Tragedy

After three weeks, Selina still hadn't called.

"Maybe this means she's happy," Stefan told his brother. Since Selina had left, he'd been in an increasingly agitated mood. "Maybe you should just accept that."

"No," Damon shook his head. "I don't like this at all. You remember that cousin of hers, that Michael. He never thought anyone was good enough for her. No doubt he taught his descendants to act the same way."

Stefan began rifling around in the drawer under the silverware to see if he could find his keys. "So what you're saying is that you believe Michael Lockwood is trying to sabotage your relationship with Selina from beyond the grave."

"No," Damon shut the drawer quickly, giving Stefan just enough time to pull his hand out. "I'm saying he had a crush on her, and he didn't want anyone else in his way."

Stefan looked up at his brother and burst out laughing. "Oh come on. Seriously? He was her _cousin_, Damon. He wasn't in love with her. I admit he was protective to the point of being creepy, but that doesn't mean that he was in love with her."

Damon tried to come up with a response to that, but before he could say anything, the doorbell rang.

"That's Elena," Stefan explained. "We're going out for coffee."

"I'm coming too," Damon replied suddenly and followed Stefan to the door.

"Hi Stefan, ready to go?" Elena asked. Then she noticed Damon beside him holding his coat. "Damon, what's going on?"

"Damon wants to come with us," Stefan explained. "Selina left three weeks ago and he's feeling a little lonely."

"No I'm not," Damon snapped. "Can we just go already?"

"Why'd Selina leave?" Elena asked as they made their way to the coffee shop.

"I don't know and I don't care," Damon answered from the backseat.

"I think the reason why she left," Stefan replied, "is because _somebody_ in this car didn't give her a reason to stay even though he obviously has one."

"Where'd she go?" Elena asked. "Did she leave town?"

"No, she moved in with Tyler Lockwood."

Elena's eyes widened. "Why'd she do that?"

"Well, here's what I think," Stefan told her. "Remember when we first found her and she told us that story about her cousin Michael finding her in the woods feeding on a squirrel, and instead of staking her, he told her that as long as he and his descendants walk on this earth, she could stay in the town and be safe?"

"Yeah," Elena nodded. "And then he gave her the newspaper with the article about the two of you taking Katherine to the Founder's Day Ball. I remember."

"Well, Michael was a Lockwood. So was Selina's mother before she married Matthew Warren."

At that point, they arrived at the coffee shop and Stefan parked the car in the lot. Then they didn't speak again until they were seated at a table.

"So let me get this straight," Elena told Stefan. "Selina decided to move out of the boarding house and into the loving bosom of her distant family?"

Stefan nodded. "And for some reason, even though he knew that and did absolutely nothing to prevent it, Damon's been very upset recently."

"It's like I was telling Stefan earlier," Damon interjected. "Michael was in love with Selina and didn't want any other man coming near her. Now I bet he's taught his descendants to feel the same way."

"To which I responded that that couldn't possibly be true because he was her cousin and if they were in love with each other, that would just be wrong. What do you think?"

"Well," Elena thought a moment, "not really knowing Selina's history as well as the two of you, I really couldn't say. But I do agree that Michael being in love with Selina when the two of them were actually cousins is a little far-fetched."

"Thank you," Stefan exclaimed. He gave Damon a look. "See, I told you."

"Oh, please," Damon rolled his eyes. "The only reason why she agreed with you is because the two of you are dating."

The waitress came with their coffees. They stopped talking for a moment and continued when she'd gone away.

"Well, Damon if you're so concerned, why don't you go and asked Selina what went on between her and Michael?" Elena suggested. "She and Tyler just showed up and they're sitting right over there."

She gestured at a table about three over from theirs. Selina was indeed sitting there with Tyler and the two of them were talking and laughing. At the sight of them, Damon frowned.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked.

Damon said nothing. He kept his eyes on the other table, and as he watched, his hands slowly balled into fists.

"You want to beat him to a pulp and take Selina straight home, don't you?" Stefan asked with a knowing smile.

"Well, I didn't get to do it to that damn cousin of hers, did I?" Damon asked bitingly.

"I don't see what you're so worked up about," Elena said as she took another drink of her coffee. "Even if Michael _was_ in love with her, you were the one she got engaged to."

"Yeah," Stefan agreed. "So either let it go or go over there and tell her you're sorry and want her to come home."

Damon's eyes were still on the other table. Both Selina and Tyler had finished their drinks and were getting up to throw the empty cups in the trash. As soon as that was done, they left, with their hands on each other's shoulders.

Finally, Damon turned back to look at them again. "You remember how after Selina came to live with us, Mr. Pierce had that heart attack and died?"

Stefan nodded. "Yes, but I don't see how that's relevant to anything we've been talking about. Mr. Pierce had a bad heart and he died. There's nothing else to it."

"What if there was?" Damon pressed.

"What else would there be?"

"What if Michael killed him? Because he hit Selina?"

Stefan shook his head. "No."

"I heard that the autopsy said there was absolutely nothing wrong with his heart, at least not that would have killed him then. But they did find a broken bone in his neck and the only way that bone can get broken is if the person is strangled. They just didn't release it to the papers."

"Well, that's all well and good Damon, but nothing you say is going to convince me that Michael was in love with Selina and intent on wrecking your relationship." Elena told him. "What is clear to me is that you still love her and that her being with Tyler is upsetting you. What you need to do is go and tell her how sorry you are for being a jerk, and then maybe she'll forgive you."

Damon stared at her for a moment. "I've finished my drink. Have the two of you? I think I'm ready to go back to the house."

Stefan and Elena just looked at one another and threw the cups away. Then, the three of them got in to the car and sat in silence all the way back to the boarding house.

* * *

After she and Tyler got back from having coffee, he told her that he needed to go on some errands. She asked him why and he said it was because he had a surprise planned for her later that evening and he needed to get supplies. She went with him to the door and saw him off, then went to parlor and fell back on the couch, sighing happily.

The last three weeks had been wonderful. It had been awhile since she'd felt so completely protected and loved. And it was nice to be back in her old house again. She'd gone exploring one day and managed to find her mother's old journal and some boxes of correspondence. Reading through all of it made it feel as if her mother was really back in her life again. Back when she and her mother had been living with Mr. Pierce, he'd controlled everything they did, including checking their mail to make sure that they were only associating with the right type of people. If he found a letter he didn't like, it disappeared. That was why her mother had always made multiple copies of every letter that she wrote; so just in case Mr. Pierce destroyed one, she could always send another.

One of the boxes contained a letter that Selina had actually taken out and kept: it was a copy of the one that Katherine was supposed to have brought to Damon so he'd know exactly what was going on with Selina, and why she wouldn't be there to meet him when he came home for leave. She took it carefully out of her pocket and read it again:

_Dear Damon,_

_Selina has become ill with scarlet fever. She hasn't really been well the last couple of weeks, but two days ago at dinner, she complained of a really painful sore throat. She then became flushed. I sent for Doctor Stensrund and he came and said she was burning up. He said that she probably won't live through the week. I know you're coming home for leave and that Katherine will be at your house when you arrive, so I'm sending this letter with her. I believe it would do Selina a world of good to see you one last time before the angels come and take her. _

_Amelia Warren (Pierce)_

Her mother's signature made Selina smile. It was so heartening to know that even though she'd married Mr. Pierce, her one true love was still Selina's father.

Selina wondered what happened to the original note. Katherine had probably destroyed it somehow before she left, and their mother hadn't known about it.

Holding back tears, Selina put the note in her pocket. If she ever saw Damon again, she was going to give it to him. That would prove once and for all that Katherine was a good-for-nothing liar, and that she hadn't run off with Dr. Stensrund after all.

She'd read in her mother's journal that Dr. Stensrund hadn't immediately told her mother that he could cure Selina of her illness. He'd waited awhile before divulging that piece of information. Before that, he'd just let her think that Selina was was going to die.

She spent the rest of the day reading over her mother's letters, and when Tyler called her to come upstairs around eight that evening, it took her awhile to come back to the present.

She headed up and called for him, and when he answered back, his voice was coming from one of the empty guest bedrooms.

"What are you doing in here, Tyler?" she asked.

He smiled. "Look around." She saw candles. And flowers. Heard ambient mood music. Saw that the bed had been pushed back so that there was enough room for a small folding table that had been set for two. And then she noticed the blankets on the bed had been turned down.

"Tyler," she said, "what _is_ all this?"

He smiled and took her hand. "This is for you," he answered.

She sat down at the table. "You know we can't date Tyler. We're cousins! And we certainly can't go anywhere near that bed unless we want to write a New Greek tragedy. Or move to the Ozarks, and have a shotgun wedding." Suddenly, her mind cleared, just as it had the day Michael had found her in the woods.

"I have to leave, Tyler. It's been nice staying here while I recovered from what happened with my fiancé, but from the looks of this, I think it would be best if I left."

She stood up from the chair, blew out all the candles, and left the room.

When she got back to her own room, she began throwing her clothes back in their suitcases. Once she was packed up, she got them down the stairs, grabbed her coat, picked up her bags again, and headed to the nearest bar.

* * *

Elena decided to head back to the boardinghouse and on her way there, she noticed Selina walking along the road, carrying a bunch of bags.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Elena parked her car on the side of the street and hurried out to meet Selina, who was clearly struggling with all that she was carrying.

"No, I'm not okay," Selina informed her. "I left Tyler's house. He wanted us to be a couple and if I would have stayed there any longer, he would have tried to get me to sleep with him."

"Really?" Elena asked, taking some of her bags.

"Really," Selina said. "So I'm going to a bar, O'Neil's on 3rd and West Court, and I'm going to drink until I forget the whole experience. That will probably take an hour, hour an a half. Then, will you tell Stefan to come and pick me up?"

Elena nodded. "Sure."

After making sure Selina was safely in the bar, Elena got in her car and called Stefan to say that she was going to be a little late. She waited out the hour at a bookstore and then headed to the boarding house.

"Hi, Elena. What's going on? Did something happen to keep you?" Stefan asked.

"Well," Elena took off her coat and hung it in the closet. "I ran into Selina about an hour ago. She said that she left Tyler's because he tried to sleep with her, and now she's at O'Neil's on 3rd and West Court drinking so she can forget the entire experience. She told me that that would take an hour and wanted you to come and pick her up."

"All right, I'll get my keys."

"No, you two stay here." Until he'd spoken, Elena hadn't noticed Damon sitting on the couch. "I'll go get her."

Stefan and Elena looked at one another in surprise, but Stefan threw Damon his keys.

"What?" Damon asked when he saw how they were looking at him. "Can't a guy go rescue his fiancée after she gets herself trashed at a bar without people suspecting him of having ulterior motives?"

"We don't think you have ulterior motives," Elena said. "It's just that you haven't exactly been nice to her since her birthday."

"Well, I'll admit it, seeing her with Tyler made me realize some things, all right? Now, if you don't mind, I think I should be going before Selina manages to get herself behind the wheel of a car and do something stupid like drive off a bridge."

He headed out the door. As soon as he was gone, Stefan and Elena smiled at one another. "I don't know about you," Stefan said, "but I think things are finally starting to look up."


	8. Three Simple Words

After a much longer drive then was necessary thanks to a traffic jam in front of a broken stoplight, Damon finally pulled up in front of the bar that Elena had mentioned. It was a red brick building and the sign out front, made in green neon, was only half lit and flickered on and off. The music coming from inside was loud and pulsing.

He got out of the car slowly and shut the door behind him, wondering why she would come _here_ of all places. Maybe there was more to her than he realized. Maybe his first thought had been correct, and despite what she claimed, she and the girl in the photo under his mattress _weren't_ the same person after all.

He opened the door to the bar slowly, not wanting to bring attention to himself, but even when the little bell jingled, no one turned around to stare like he thought they would. The music was too loud. People were dancing. And some were looking at the bar and cheering loudly.

Wondering what they were looking at, he strode further in, and realized with a jolt that it was Selina herself everyone was cheering for. She clearly had a few drinks in her and was shimmying on the bar. Damon walked over and ordered a beer of his own before turning back to Selina. She didn't look at him as she danced, and, he had to admit to himself, she looked _good_. She was wearing a black silk tank top, a pink miniskirt, and a black leather jacket. Her hair was loose and cascading over her shoulders. He liked her hair that way, better than the short wig she wore when she went out into town and didn't want people to recognize her.

Finally, the song ended and the next one began. Only then did she turn her eyes toward him and acknowledge his presence.

"Damon! Hi!" she chirped, smiling at him. She held out her arms and when he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her off the bar, she kissed him.

"You'll never guess what," she said, grinning at him mischievously.

"What?" he asked smiling, even though he knew what she was going to say.

"I'm spifflicated!" she said and giggled.

He put his forehead against hers. "Sweetheart, not only are you spifflicated, you're ossified, trashed, wasted, and drunk."

She paused. "Don't those all mean the same thing?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's how bad it is."

Now that she was off the bar, he noticed the three seemingly empty beer bottles. "What do you know," he said, gazing at them for a moment. "Three dead soldiers."

"Well technically," Selina grabbed two and held them up, "we have two dead soldiers and one that's only wounded." She gestured at the third. Damon picked it up and shook it, realizing that the bottle did indeed still have some left in it.

"Great," he said, finishing it off.

"I know why you're here," Selina said as soon as he put the bottle down.

"And why is that?" he asked.

She managed to get herself to a table and sit down. "You're here to tell me that my relationship with Tyler is sick, twisted and unnatural, and that I should end it. Well, you don't have to worry, because I already did. He wanted us to be a couple, but I told him no way, 'cause I'm already engaged."

Damon pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. "Good for you, but why did you come _here_ afterward?"

She looked up at him. "I came here because I thought I didn't have anyone left in the world. But you're here, so obviously I was wrong. Not to mention the fact that they have really good giggle water."

He laughed. "From the state of you, I don't doubt that."

They sat in silence for a moment, and then she said "look, I know I've been a bit of a pill, and I want to tell you that I'm sorry."

He nodded. "I accept your apology. Now, do you want to come home with me?"

"Yes," she nodded. She stood up and tried to walk, but promptly fell flat on her face, erupting into giggles again.

"Okay, come here." Damon scooped her up and carried her out, depositing her in the passenger's seat.

"Thanks for coming to get me," she told him when they were on the road again.

He nodded. "No problem. It's heartening to know that even after being around for over a hundred years, you still do things that require people bailing you out."

Selina nodded. "Yeah. And you know, there's one more thing I want to tell you besides thank you and I'm sorry."

"What's that?"

"I love you."

At that he almost ran the car off the road, but managed to hold it steady. He was about to reply, but as he looked over at her, he saw that she was asleep. When he got to the broken stoplight, instead of honking his horn and swearing at it like everyone else, he thought about what had happened tonight. It was the first time since they'd been reunited that she'd actually _needed_ him for something. Back when they'd been alive, she'd been somewhat needy and he hadn't minded being the one to tell her she was pretty, or smart, or worthy. And then he'd gone off to fight and just left her. That's probably why she'd run off with Dr. Stensrund in the first place. Because he, Damon, hadn't been there for her when she needed him most.

He looked over at her sleeping form, and brushed hair away from her face. "I'm sorry too," he said to her.

* * *

He parked the car in the street and picked her up to take her inside.

"Did you get her?" Stefan asked as he and Elena rushed toward them.

"Yeah," Damon nodded. "You should have seen her. It was brilliant. She was drunk out of her mind and dancing on the bar."

"When'd she finally fall asleep?" Stefan asked.

"After we got on the road," Damon replied. "She'll be okay, but she's going to have a wicked hangover tomorrow."

He took her upstairs, and put her in her bed. As he was about to leave, she seemed to stir.

"Damon," she said, "will you stay with me tonight?"

"Sure," he nodded and stepped back into the room, sitting next to her on her bed. She put her arms around him and put her head on his shoulder.

"Goodnight," she whispered as her eyes closed.

He hugged her tighter. "Good night, sweetheart."

*dead soldier= empty beer bottle

*Giggle water=alcohol


	9. A Heart to Heart Talk

The first thing Selina saw when she woke up was Damon lying next to her in her bed. She stared at him for a few seconds, then the pain hit. "Oh, my God!" she cried, which made Damon open his eyes and sit up.

"What?" he asked. "You _wanted _me to stay here with you last night!"

"No!" Selina snapped at him. She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. "It's not you! My head is killing me."

"Oh," Damon grinned a little, then eased himself off the bed. "Well you _did_ have quite a night last night."

She groaned. "I haven't drunk like that since the day the stock market crashed." She looked up at him. "I didn't say anything I might regret later, did I?"

He shook his head. "No, you're actually a lot more civil when you're drunk. Not a lot of people can say that. You're also a really good dancer. You even apologized for all your bad behavior lately."

Selina frowned. "What bad behavior? I have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. You on the other hand…" she glared at him.

"Hey," he said. "I've got nothing to apologize for either. You're the one who ran off with Dr. Stensrund while I was off fighting for the Confederacy!"

"That's it!" She cried. "I did NOT run off with Dr. Stensrund. I got sick. He promised Mama that he would cure me. Then things went wrong. That's what happened. Why can't you understand that?"

"Maybe because it's not true?"

She groaned again. Finally, she said "would you consider my mother an honest person?"

He nodded. "Yes, I would. But I don't see what that has to do with anything."

She got out of her bed slowly and then looked over at him. "You will." She left the room and came back a few minutes later clutching her mother's journal and the letter she'd written. "Read these," she said, shoving them at him. "The letter is the one you were supposed to get when Katherine came to your house. This is a copy; she must have destroyed the original."

He took it from her and read it over. After he'd finished, he looked up at her. "You really _were_ sick?" he asked in surprise.

"_Duh,_" she said. "I've only been saying that for weeks."

He looked down at the letter again. "You were so sick that you would have died within a week?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it was awful."

"_I believe it would do Selina a world of good to see you one last time before the angels take her…_" he paused and looked up at her. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I probably wouldn't have come."

"Why not?" Selina asked.

He put the letter down. "Because I wouldn't want my last memories of you to be while I watched you die. But what would make Katherine say that you ran off with Dr. Stensrund when you didn't?"

Selina rolled her eyes. "Other then the fact that one of her sole joys in life was trying to ruin mine? Nothing else, really."

"What's the journal for?"

She picked it up. "I brought it to give even more proof that I didn't run off with Dr. Stensrund. Turn to June 16th."

He opened the journal up and read "_Today, Dr. Stensrund stopped by with troubling news. It's so sad I can barely speak and I've locked myself in my room. He told me that despite his best efforts, Selina has died. He told me he was sorry for my loss. I haven't told my husband or Katherine about it because I doubt it would move them. The only thing I'm grateful for is that she no longer suffers, and that she and her father have been reunited. And all I can do is wait for the day that I join them._

_Amelia Warren" _

He looked up at her. "Dr. Stensrund told your mother you were dead?"

Selina nodded. "Apparently. Probably so she wouldn't ask questions."

"What about your funeral?" he asked. "When he didn't return your body, she probably suspected something then."

"Turn the page," Selina replied gravely.

He turned the page to the next day: "_Dr. Stensrund came by again. He told me that due to the severity of Selina's illness, and the fact that it's spread so easily, it would be safer for him to bury Selina's body on his own instead of returning it to us so it can be buried in the family plot next to her father's. I thought it was strange at first, but then realized it was the right thing to do. It's awfully courageous of him to risk illness himself in order to protect the whole community._

_Amelia Warren" _

Damon stopped reading and looked back up at Selina. "Are there any more you want me to read?"

"No," she shook her head. "Just those. Now, if you will kindly admit that I was right and you were wrong, then we can stop wasting our existences hating Katherine and Dr. Stensrund for turning us, and can instead thank them for giving us a second chance at being together."

Damon picked up the letter again. "You know, you're right. About this being a second chance, I mean. If that hadn't happened, you'd be dead and I'd be lonely." Then, he looked up at her. "I told you this last night, but you probably don't remember. And after seeing all this, I probably should say it again. But I'm sorry for everything that's happened. You mean a lot to me, and I've been acting like an idiot."

Selina smiled. "Thank you. Now I'll let the whole situation go, and we can move on."

"Well, since we're moving on," he said as he went to her dresser and rummaged around in her jewelry box, "can I assume you want this back?" he held up the locket.

"Yes, I do. Thanks for saving it for when I came back to my senses."

She took it from him and put it back on.

"Well," he said, "That was actually Stefan's idea. I wanted to destroy it."

She looked up. "Well, aren't you glad you didn't?" She paused and groaned. "All this excitement almost made me forget that I'm hung over. But now I'm starting to remember again."

"Sit on your bed, and I'll get you something for the headache," Damon instructed.

Selina did as he asked and he returned a little while later with a strange-looking concoction, and handed her the glass.

"What's in this?" she asked, looking at it nervously.

"Good, wonderful stuff that makes the pain go away." He grinned encouragingly, but she still didn't drink it. "There's nothing bad in it, I swear!"

"Oh, all right!" Finally, Selina shut her eyes and downed the contents of the glass in one gulp. It took a little while, but the pain eventually went away.

"You know," Selina said, "the last time I took liquid from somebody after they told me it would make pain go away was the sleeping medication Dr. Stensrund gave me after we exchanged blood."

"Really?" Damon asked. "Is that why you were so reluctant to drink this stuff? It's just a plain old, run of the mill hangover cure, I promise."

"No, I believe you," Selina assured him. "It's just that after I took the medicine, I went to sleep, and the next thing I remember is being tied to a chair in Dr. Stensrund's attic and being racked with bloodlust."

"There was something in the medicine, wasn't there?" he asked.

She nodded. "I think it was some kind of poison. Anyway, I was racked with bloodlust, but Dr. Stensrund didn't let me feed until night time. But he said he didn't want me out and about yet, so he kidnapped two homeless men, chained them up right across from my chair, and then he let me loose."

"And did you kill both of them?" Damon asked.

"Yes," Selina nodded. She could feel herself starting to tear up. "And it happened night after night for about a week. Me, killing people. It was _horrible_."

"Sweetie, that wasn't your fault. You were new and your bloodlust wasn't under control yet. You couldn't help it." Damon held onto her.

"And after I'd regained a little of my sanity, that's when I noticed my locket was missing. I asked him where he put it, and he said, I kid you not, 'I hid it somewhere you'll never find it, because if I can't have you, no one can.' Then I noticed that there was a ring on my finger. He called it an engagement ring. At least it allows me to be out in the light." She showed him her hand, and for the first time, he noticed that she was wearing a ring too. "Finally, I managed to escape one night while the good doctor was out making house calls. I was a little better by then, and I thought about going back to your house, but I didn't because I thought I might accidently hurt you or Stefan, and I couldn't bear that."

"And it wouldn't have done your mother much good, seeing as she thought you were dead," Damon added.

"Yeah," Selina managed to laugh a little. "So I went to the woods. Lived on squirrels and rabbits, the occasional deer if I was lucky. That went on for about six months, and then Michael found me-"

"Wait, sweetheart, stop. You lived on animals for _six months_?"

She nodded bitterly. "And to sum up _that_ experience in three words, it bit, sucked, and blew. But once Michael showed me that article about Katherine and the two of you, I finally came to my senses, went back to Doctor Stensrund's house, nearly sucked him dry, then staked him. And I've been living off his vast amounts of money and drinking from his very fine liquor cabinet ever since."

Damon was gazing at her as if she were an angel. "I don't believe this," he said in a tone of wonder. "All this time I'd thought you'd gone noble like Stefan."

"No," she shook her head. "I started with people, so eating anything else doesn't really appeal to me. Besides, people who eat people are the luckiest people of all. As long as they aren't stupid and get themselves caught." She grinned. "But I admit I haven't killed anyone since I was at Dr. Stensrund's, nor do I ever intend to."

He was still gazing at her in awe. "You know, I still think of you as you were back when we were alive, so this wild side of yours is something of a surprise. A pleasant surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. I mean, never once did I think I'd have to rescue you after you got yourself so drunk you couldn't even walk."

Selina grinned wickedly. "Well, if you'd been with me in the twenties, it wouldn't have been such a shock. Just out of curiosity, if I did something that got me thrown in jail, would you come and bail me out?"

He nodded. "Of course. After I got over the fact that you did something bad enough to land in jail in the first place." He paused at her look. "I missed a lot by not being with you in the twenties, didn't I?"

"Well," she said, patting him on the back, "let's just say…yes, and leave it at that." Then she stood up, threw a coquettish smile over her shoulder, and left the room.


	10. Memories

That morning, something seemed different. Stefan couldn't quite figure out what it was, but then he heard a noise, and looked up from the coffee table. Much to his surprise, Selina was coming down the stairs, and Damon was following close behind her; they were both smiling. "Well, this is new," Stefan observed. "I see togetherness, I see smiling. Has hell frozen over or something?"

Selina reached the kitchen first. "Nothing so bad as that. We just talked things out, that's all."

Stefan grinned knowingly. "Meaning you talked, and he listened."

Selina nodded. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

"And I found out some very interesting things," Damon put in. "Did you know that she's been arrested?"

"_Really_?" Stefan asked. "How? Why? Where? When?"

"How many times?" Damon added. "I can assume from the look on your face earlier that it wasn't just the once."

Selina rolled her eyes and sighed in an exaggerated fashion. "You two don't want to hear_ those_ stories, do you?"

"Yes!" they replied at the same time.

"Okay." She turned around quickly and brought her palms down on the kitchen table, causing both boys to jump. "But let me say right now that what you're about to hear may shock you." She paused. They were still staring at her, enthralled.

"_The date was October 28, 1919," she began. "Congress had just passed the eighteenth amendment, AKA the Volstead Act, which reinforced prohibition in the United States. President Wilson had originally vetoed it, but Congress, being the silly men they were back then, overrode his veto and thus doomed America to years of rule by criminal elements, gang activity, and just not having any fun at all._

"_I wasn't really an enthusiastic drinker at that point in time, but I had this friend, Ruthie Gavin, a prototype of the flapper girl, and she convinced me to go with her and some of her friends on a road trip to Washington to protest the amendment on the front steps of Congress. Five cases of gin came along for the ride, put in the trunk so we wouldn't drink any of it before we got there _

"_We reached Washington in about a week, parked her car on the front lawn of the Senate and sat ourselves and the gin down on the front steps. We drank, we protested, we hollered for the men in the government to tell the people why they were dooming the country to who knows how many years without alcohol. But instead, all they did was call the police; me, Ruthie, the rest of the girls, and all the gin, were hauled off to jail for disturbing the peace."_

"So let me get this straight," Stefan said. "You and your friends were sitting on the steps of the United States Senate, getting drunk."

"We weren't _just_ getting drunk, Stefan!" Selina replied indignantly. "We were also protesting Congress's blatant disregard for the people's _right_ to drink. That's what the Volstead Act basically was about. Written by a bunch of bluenoses and Mrs. Grundys who have nothing better to do with their lives then interfere with the lives of the easily swayed multitudes because they are incapable of minding their own beeswax."

"The Volstead Act wasn't just about stopping people from drinking," Stefan said patiently. "It was also about seeing what other purposes alcohol could possibly have besides making people drunk."

"Like what?" Selina asked.

"Like in manufacturing," Stefan answered. "Or for scientific purposes; the Volstead Act helped Congress ensure that there was enough alcohol around so they could experiment with its uses in lawful industries."

Selina looked at him blankly for a moment, then said "Well, thank God for speakeasies! Otherwise, I think everyone might have gone insane and then where would we be?"

"Hear, hear!" Damon agreed.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"It's probably Elena," Stefan said. "I'll go get it."

He went to get the door and Damon and Selina were left alone at the kitchen table. "So what happened once they hauled you off to jail?" Damon asked.

Selina shrugged. "Not much, really. I was fingerprinted, and then they threw me in a cell with about twenty other women. I spent the night there. Slept on a cold, hard floor with a thin blanket and no pillow."

"How did you get out?"

"Ruthie had a brother who was a lawyer. He spun some genius mumbo jumbo about our arrest being a gross miscarriage of justice because it was inhibiting our right to peaceful assembly and free speech. The judge fell for every word. Then we were set free, and I decided to leave town for a little while. See the world. Ended up in Paris first, then went on to Venice, London, and Madrid. But I came back to Paris after awhile. That was where I found myself, I think. I toured in a dance troupe with Isadora Duncan and had a short lived affair with F. Scott Fitzgerald before he met Zelda. I remember the two of us having dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve. There were fireworks, and the two of us danced into the early hours of the morning." She paused. "You probably don't want to hear anymore of that, do you?" she asked.

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. As long as you still had the necklace, I don't care what you did."

"Hey you guys," Elena said as she walked into the room, stopping short as she saw them sitting next to one another, and holding hands. "You're right," she said, looking at Stefan, "they do seem to be getting along."

"Why is everyone acting so shocked?" Selina asked. "We had a fight, we talked it over, he realized he was wrong, and now we're back together." She thought a moment. "Well, actually, first he rescued me from bar after I got drunk off my ass, stayed the night with me so I wouldn't be alone for which I am eternally grateful, and _then_ with a little assistance from my mother, we talked things over, he realized he was wrong, and now we're back together."

Elena sat down next to Stefan. "What do you mean 'with a little help from your mother'?"

Selina took a deep breath. "My mother made copies of every letter she wrote so in case Mr. Pierce destroyed on while he was going through our mail, she could always send another." She pulled the letter out of her pocket and pushed it toward Stefan. "Here's a copy of the one that Katherine was supposed to give the two of you when she arrived at your house."

Stefan opened it slowly, read it, and then looked up at Selina. "I figured something like that happened," he said. "But would you really have not lasted a week without Dr. Stensrund's intervention?"

She nodded. "Apparently. That's how bad he said it was. But he was surprised at how quickly the onset happened. Usually it takes a lot longer for the final fatal symptoms of scarlet fever to manifest. But with me, it was like one day I was fine, you know, a little achy and stuffy maybe, but nothing that would truly impair my function, and then the next day, I was at Death's door. There wasn't even an outbreak or anything prior to me being sick."

Elena looked at Stefan. "You do remember Bonnie's coming by later, right?"

Stefan nodded. "I remember."

"Who?" Selina asked.

"My friend Bonnie," Elena replied. "She just discovered she's a witch."

At that, the doorbell rang and Elena went to get it, ushering Bonnie into the kitchen. "I know you've met nearly everyone in here, but I know you haven't met Selina," she said. "She's with Damon."

"Nice to meet you," Bonnie said, holding out her hand.

Selina locked eyes with her. Then, something happened. Another memory came flooding back.

_It was the middle of the night. She'd gotten up to get a drink of water. She was walking past Katherine's bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. Katherine and Emily were whispering._

"_We have to get her out of the way if the plan is to succeed. She's the only one who could possibly interfere," Katherine was saying. _

_Curious, she'd gone closer to the door so she could hear the rest._

"_That shouldn't be too hard Miss. I could do any number of things to limit her presence the next few months," Emily replied._

"_It shouldn't be too messy. Make it look natural if you can. We can't risk arousing suspicion."_

"_Don't worry, Miss," Emily assured her. "No one will suspect a thing."_

"_Good," Katherine smiled. "I will have the Salvatore brothers, and my sister, she will get to be with her foolish father, just like she's always wanted."_

"Selina," the sound of Elena's voice snapped her out of her daydream. "Are you all right? Aren't you going to shake Bonnie's hand?"

Selina blink and looked up. "I feel a little light-headed all of a sudden." She looked at Bonnie. "Nice to meet you. Sorry, but I have to go now." And she bolted from the kitchen."

"Damon, what's wrong with her?" Elena asked, as she watched Selina retreat from the kitchen.

"I don't know," Damon was as puzzled as Elena. "But I'll go and see."

He found Selina in her bed, curled up in the fetal position. "What happened down there?" he asked.

"I just remembered something," Selina replied shakily. "That girl Bonnie made me remember it."

"What is it?" Damon asked, sitting next to her on the bed.

"It was Emily who made me sick," Selina told him. "She did it on Katherine's order so Katherine could turn you and Stefan without interference from me."


	11. The Revealing Journey

There was a sudden knock at the door that made Selina jump. A second later, Elena opened the door and came in, followed by Bonnie. "Is everything okay up here? What's the matter, Selina?"

Selina sat up, looking at Bonnie. "Are you related to a woman named Emily?" she asked her.

Bonnie nodded. "She was an ancestor of mine. That's how I got my powers." To demonstrate, she focused her attention on a pencil on the floor next to the bed and made it levitate. This caused Selina to flinch, and Elena to gently insist that Bonnie stop showing off her powers and let the pencil back down to the floor.

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of witches," Bonnie said, looking up at Selina.

Selina shook her head. "Not necessarily. Emily was the only one that would fit that, and possibly anyone related to her."

Bonnie frowned. "Why's that?"

"Because," Selina said, trying to keep her voice steady, "Emily got me sick. Nearly was the death of me. Probably would have been if Dr. Stensrund hadn't gotten to me first."

"_What?_" Elena asked, surprised.

"One night, I heard her and Katherine talking to one another about some plan to get rid of me so that I wouldn't interfere with a plot they were making to change Damon and Stefan. A few days after that conversation, I found a basket of flowers outside my bedroom door. I thought it was a peace offering. But then, I began to be sick. The symptoms were mild at first, nothing that really interfered with my daily life, but then I got a high fever, probably 103-104 degrees, and my throat really started to hurt. I had contracted scarlet fever, but no one knew how." She paused, looking at Bonnie. "I know you probably don't believe me, but it's true."

"And on that cheerful note," Damon interrupted quickly before Selina could say anything else, "I have something I need to do today, and Selina, I want you to come with me. I'm sure Stefan and Elena have important business to attend to and we'd only be in the way."

"I thought you liked being in the way," Selina replied.

"Just come on, please?" he said curtly.

Selina was slightly put off, but she followed him out to his car anyway.

Once they were in the car, Selina spoke. "So where are we going?"

"Georgia," he said, smiling.

"Oh, really?" she asked, smiling. "Just going away like that without telling anyone? Should I have packed clothes…or did you have _other _things in mind?"

The insinuation made him grin, but he sighed after a moment and said "as nice as it would be for that to have been the plan, we're actually visiting an old girlfriend of mine. I have to ask her a question for a project I'm working on."

"Oh." Selina's face fell. "So you're bringing me along…why?"

Damon took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at her. "Bree owns a bar, and you can drink all you want."

"Oh, okay. I'm starting to like this plan better now." Selina was smiling again. Peace had been restored to the car, and the two drove the rest of the way in silence.

Eventually, they pulled up in front of a building that proclaimed it was Bree's Bar. Damon stepped out of the car and walked around to open the passenger side door for Selina. She got out slowly and surveyed the establishment. "It's always the dives that have the best stuff," she remarked as she followed Damon inside.

The second they entered, the woman at the bar's eyes lit up and she came running over to them, giving Damon a hug.

"My, my!" She exclaimed. "Damon Salvatore, it's been awhile since I've seen you!"

As she let him go, he smiled. "It certainly has, Bree."

Then her eyes traveled to Selina. "And who's this?" she asked. "The famous Katherine? Did the spell work?"

"What spell?" Selina asked curiously. "And I'm not Katherine. I'm her older sister, Selina."

"Oh." Bree paused and then headed back behind the bar. "Can I get you anything?" she asked, clearly going for a change of subject.

"I'll have a beer," Selina said, taking a seat on a barstool and spinning it around once. When she was facing the bar again, Bree plunked a bottle down in front of her. She studied it and giggled. "Look at this, Damon," she remarked. "Yankee brand beer. I don't know why they'd buy something called that around here, but if I drink enough of these, then I guess that means I won the Civil War all by myself."

Bree smiled. "And I think you just answered your own question."

Selina cracked open the bottle and downed half of it before coming up for air.

"Wow," Bree observed. "You certainly aren't a novice drinker."

Selina put the bottle down. "You can't live through the twenties and not have at least _some _experience," Selina replied. Then she gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Damon said coming up behind her. "Bree knows what we are."

Bree nodded. "I'm a witch myself."

Selina downed the rest of the bottle and then asked for another one. After Bree gave it to her, she hopped off the barstool and wandered over to a pool table, setting up a game. She'd gotten all the solid color balls in the pockets when she realized that Bree and Damon were huddled in the corner, whispering to one another. She put the pool cue down and tiptoed behind them.

"Is there any way I can bring back Katherine without the crystal?" Damon asked.

Bree shook her head. "No, the crystal was the only way. Unless you can find Emily's grimoire. That will have the spell in it that will reverse the one she used to seal Katherine into the tomb."

Then, as Selina watched, Damon ripped Bree's heart out, and she fell to the floor. Normally, this would have made Selina run away, or feel compelled to give him a lecture about killing people. But there was something far more important on her mind, and she made sure he knew what it was when they were on the road again.

"You want to resurrect my sister?" she asked him. "After all that we went through to trust each other again, _you want to bring back my sister? _And what about that tomb thing Bree was talking about? Stefan told me Katherine died in a fire!"

"She did!" Damon replied. "Sort of. In order to save her from going away completely, Emily did a spell that kept Katherine and twenty-six other vampires in a mummified state in a tomb beneath the church."

"Okay," Selina replied. "So I did my happy dance to 'Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead' for no reason. But that still doesn't tell me much. Have you been stringing me along all this time, waiting for the moment you could bring her back? Is everything I've been feeling for the past few months a lie?"

They stopped at a stoplight. "My original plan when I came back to Mystic Falls was to bring back your sister so that the two of us could be together. Stefan and Elena are at the house probably thinking up ways to stop me. But then you showed up and everything changed."

"And yet you still want to bring her back," Selina said. "I don't think things have changed at all."

He finally took his eyes off the light and looked at her angrily. "Will you just shut up and listen to me?" he yelled. "The reason why I want to bring your sister back now is so that we can have closure."

"Closure?" Selina asked.

"Yeah," Damon smiled. "Don't tell me you never dreamed of going up to her, getting into her face and proving that you're not her silly older sister anymore."

Selina nodded. "If by that you mean have I dreamed of beating the crap out of her, yes, you're correct."

"And you probably would also like to throw it in her face that although it initially seemed like her plan to separate us was successful it ultimately failed, because here we are." The light turned green and Damon began driving again.

"Yeah," Selina was looking dreamy now. "That would be the best day of my life." She shifted in her seat. "So, now that we saw your friend, what are we going to do with the rest of the day?"

"Well," Damon paused for a moment. "I have a thought or two about what we could do. I mean, it's not like we have to rush back, right?"

Selina shook her head. "I don't see why."

"And you mentioned something earlier in the day…asked me if I had _other _things in mind. Well, now that my business with Bree is complete, there _is_ room for _other things_."

"Really?" Selina asked, grinning. "You know, I have absolutely no problem with wearing these same clothes tomorrow."

"Okay, that settles it." He made a sharp turn and pulled into a small hotel. It was off season, so when they walked in, there were no other guests around. When Damon asked for a room for them, the desk clerk noticed they had no baggage and gazed at them knowingly, but said nothing.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in their room. It wasn't a honeymoon suite. That would have been too obvious. But it did have a large bed, two comfy overstuffed chairs on either side of a small card table, and to Selina's delight, a fully stocked minibar.

She drank three bottles and then turned to him. "I knew there was a reason I wore my black underwear today," she said. She slowly unbuttoned her shirt and threw it on the floor, followed by her skirt, and her shoes. Then, she jumped on the bed.

"I spent some time at a bohemian colony with Georges Robaud. He was a protégé of Toulouse Lautrec. He taught me lots of things. And not just about art. Do you want me to show them to you?" she asked.

"Yes, I do." Damon was watching her in fascination. She clearly wasn't the girl he'd fallen in love with 145 years ago, but it was times like this that made him like her better now. He climbed in bed next to her, then Selina pulled the sheets over them, and pretty soon, nothing else in the world existed but the two of them.

A/N- In case anyone's interested, there's a story with Selina in the Book Universe too! It's called _La Luna Bella._


	12. The Morning After

"Good morning!"

Selina opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Damon, who was out of bed already and very much awake. "Unh," she moaned and threw the covers over her head again.

"You need this?" he asked.

She pulled the covers off and looked at what he was offering her. It was the hangover cure he'd given her the morning after he'd gotten her back from O'Neil's. "How'd you know to bring that?" she asked.

He laughed a little. "I figured that if I was going to bring you to a bar, the least I could do was help you face the repercussions."

She reached out to take it from him and groaned as she realized she couldn't bend without feeling horrible pain in her back. "Oh, damn," she groaned. "I can't move. My back hurts like you wouldn't believe."

He sat next to her. "Well, last night you _did_ bend in several ways I didn't think were possible. Were there gymnasts and circus people at the artists' colony too? Is _that_ where you learned those awe-inspiring moves I saw last night?"

She nodded. "And not only were there gymnasts and circus people, there was also absinthe. Lots and lots of absinthe. That's why I had to drink before I showed you anything. I've never done any of it sober before."

"Hold still," he told her. "Maybe I can do something about your back."

"Hold still?" she asked. "I don't think that'll be a problem. I can't move, remember?"

He began to slowly rub his hands up and down her back, and the pain gradually eased.

"Did anyone tell you you're really good with your hands?" she asked him.

He grinned. "Not since last night."

As soon as he was finished, he threw the sheet back over her again and she was finally able to pull herself up on her knees. "Can I have my clothes?" she asked him after drinking the mixture.

He grabbed the pile from the floor and put them in front of her on the bed. "You can change in here. I'll go into the bathroom," he told her.

"Oh, don't be silly." Before he could say anything, she'd grabbed her panties and her bra and after some skillful maneuvering, managed to get them on while still completely shielded by the covers.

"There," she threw the covers off and threw her legs over the side of the bed. "Now you can stay in here." She paused. "That is, unless you want me to leave while _you_ change."

He shook his head no and grabbed his clothes off one of the chairs near the card table.

After they were both dressed, Selina headed back to the car while Damon went to check out. Once they were on the road again, they discussed what they would tell Stefan and Elena should the two ask about where they'd been the night before. "I vote for a half-truth," Selina opined. "We could say that the car broke down and we couldn't get anyone to fix it until morning, so we had it towed to the nearest hotel and spent the night there, and since of course we didn't pack anything, we're still wearing the same clothes we wore yesterday."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Damon said from the passenger's seat. Today he'd decided to let her drive. She wasn't half bad. "Let's go with it."

"On another note, this was fun," Selina continued, "we should do it again."

"What?" Damon asked, "The road trip or having sex at an out of the way hotel?"

Selina shrugged. "Either one works for me."

When they pulled into the driveway of the boarding house, they found Elena sitting on the front steps looking upset. "I'll stay out here and see what's going on," Selina told Damon. "You go inside and look for Stefan."

To her surprise, he did as she asked immediately. She watched him go and then sat down next to Elena. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Remember when we first met and you thought I was Katherine?" she asked.

Selina nodded.

"Well, Stefan and I got together a few weeks ago and afterwards, I found a picture of her that he still had around. We look exactly the same."

Selina nodded. "Yeah you do. It's like you're her good twin or something."

Elena laughed a little at that, and then sobered. "I was in shock, so I left. And then later, when I got my bearings back, I asked Stefan how it could possibly be that we look so much like even though I'm a Gilbert and she was a Pierce. He told me he'd look into it, and today he told me what he found."

"What did he find?" Selina asked her.

Elena sighed. "Apparently I'm not a Gilbert after all. My parents adopted me and they never told me."

"Really?" Selina asked. "That means you could be related to the Pierces after all. They were all pretty much rotten to me, but I bet they'd be good to one of their own."

"I don't know how I feel about this," Elena continued, going on as if Selina hadn't spoken. "I feel like I should hate them because in a sense they lied to me all these years, but I don't hate them. At least not entirely."

"Elena, in a sense, I know how you feel," Selina told her, putting her arms around her. "My mother waited eight years before telling me that I was a Warren, not a Pierce."

"_What?_" Elena looked up at her, surprised. "Your mother let you think that Mr. Pierce was your father for eight years? But he _hated _you. I can't imagine what it would feel like to go that long wondering why the man who you thought was your father loved Katherine better than you."

Selina nodded. "It was tough sometimes, especially at Christmas. Katherine would get mountains of gifts, and I'd only get one or two and that was all Mama's doing. Then, on my eighth birthday, she took me aside and told me about Matthew Warren. I didn't know what to think at first. I was happy that I wasn't related to Mr. Pierce by blood, that was for sure, but at the same time, I was mad at Mama for keeping something like that from me, just as you are. And that night, l lay awake in my bed and I whispered to my father, asking him why he left me, and why wasn't I a good enough reason for him to stay home instead of going off to war and getting killed. I never got an answer of course, but at least saying the words helped a little." She sighed. "Sometimes I think that if I could just meet my father once and talk to him for five minutes, the world will be right again."

She looked at Elena sheepishly "Sorry for drifting off subject like that. I didn't mean to make this about me when you're clearly upset about something."

Elena shook her head. "No, that's fine. It helped, actually. It made me realize that even though my parents kept this a secret from me, they were good people, and I've had a good life."

Selina smiled at her. "And in the end, that's all that really matters, isn't it?"

Elena nodded, then looked at Selina closely. "Why are you still wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday?"

"Well," Selina began, "It's an interesting story. Damon's car broke down and…" she continued telling the story as she and Elena headed back into the house.

They found Damon and Stefan in the living room. The coffee table was covered with books and papers.

"What's all this?" Selina asked curiously.

"Stefan has graciously agreed to help us with our little project," Damon informed her.

"Really?" Selina looked at Stefan. "Thank you, that's wonderful of you, really Stefan."

"It's no problem," Stefan replied. "But I've looked through a few of these papers and it doesn't seem like any of them will be any help. Maybe I should run to the library and see what I can find there."

"Or," Selina said, "I could run upstairs and fetch Mama's journal and the boxes of her correspondence that I took from Tyler's house and we can see if there's anything useful in them. I mean, we're looking for Emily's grimoire, and Emily _did _live at Mama and Mr. Pierce's house. Maybe Mama heard something and wrote it down."

With that, she went upstairs and grabbed the journal and three boxes of letters, plunking them down on top of all the papers. "I'll look through the journal if the three of you will go through the boxes of letters," she said. "And I probably don't need to mention this, but they're fragile, so be careful with them."

As Elena, Damon and Stefan went through the boxes of letters, Selina went through her mother's journal again, finding nothing interesting until she reached the entry for October 31st, 1847, her first birthday.

_Today is Selina's first birthday and I decided to celebrate it by showing Selina her father. I realize that it might seem a bit morbid to take a baby to a cemetery, but since Mr. Pierce has ordered me to put away all of Matthew's pictures and forbidden me to speak of him, this is the best I can do. Mr. Pierce left town a week ago on business, and Selina and I left for the train station, and boarded a train for Texas as soon as he was gone._

_Evening_

_Something very strange happened at the cemetery. When I asked to be taken to Matthew's grave, the caretaker refused me. I asked him why, but he wouldn't say. Then, he relented. Maybe he saw Selina and had a change of heart. He told me that something was amiss with Matthew's grave. That just a few nights ago, he'd heard noises in the cemetery and gone out to see what was going on. The moon was bright and he clearly saw a woman and two men digging up Matthew's body. He assumed they were body snatchers, and went after them, but they managed to make a clean getaway. He got a good look at them though. The woman was short with dark hair and dark eyes. She was wearing a white dress. One of the men was stocky and ruddy-faced, dressed all in black. The third man was the doctor, at least that's what he assumed. This man was different from the other. He was tall and lanky with salt-and-pepper hair and cold blue eyes. I thanked him for his pains and asked to see the grave anyway. It had been filled in, but it was obvious the ground had been disturbed. Why would anyone with a heart steal a soldier's body?_

_Amelia Warren _

Selina closed the journal and thought a moment about the third man her mother had mentioned. The description seemed familiar to her. She shut her eyes and tried to think. After a bit, she gasped. She had it.

"Guys," she said quietly, "read this." She handed them the journal and they each read the entry.

"Your father's body was taken by body-snatchers, Selina?" Elena asked. "I'm sorry about that."

"No, I don't think they were body snatchers at all," Selina said. "I think they were vampires. The doctor that the caretaker described sounds exactly like Dr. Stensrund."


	13. Someone Strangely Familiar

Selina was reading the journal entry again. It had been a week since she'd first read it, and she was still trying to understand what it really said. She'd been lying on her stomach with the journal in front of her, but that wasn't doing her any good, so she turned over on her back, and held the journal over her head. Why would Dr. Stensrund want to steal her father's body? She scoffed. That was easy. Because he was a rat who didn't deserve to live. She was so happy she'd killed him slowly and painfully.

There was a sudden knock at the door.

"Come in," she called, sitting up. To her surprise, Damon and Stefan both entered the room. When they saw she was looking over the journal again, they sat on either side of her.

"Want to talk about it?" Stefan asked. "Or do you just want us to leave you alone?"

"Well," she said, taking Damon's hand in one of hers and Stefan's in the other, "there's nothing to talk about, really. This is just another example of Dr. Stensrund's callous disregard for human life and further evidence that he had it in for me."

"Why do you keep reading it over and over if it's just upsetting you?" Stefan asked her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's because Mama seems like she wants to know why my father was taken so badly and now I want to as well." She began to tear up. "But the thing is, everyone who could give me answers is dead, so I just have to keep reading the journal over and over and see what I can figure out for myself and God, it's so frustrating!" It finally became too much and she threw herself into Damon's arms, sobbing into his shirtfront. When she was finally able to calm down, she pulled herself away and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Sorry about that. It was really dignified, wasn't it?"

"Selina," Damon pulled her back to himself. "You just found out that your father's body was taken by body-snatchers for who knows what reason. I think you have the right to be upset."

"Yeah," Stefan nodded. "But if you really want to get your mind off this for awhile, Elena's coming by in about five minutes with the perfect solution."

And indeed, five minutes later, the front door opened. Stefan had given Elena key and now she just let herself in whenever she came over. She called for Stefan and when he yelled back that he and Damon were in Selina's room, she came up, looking at Selina in admiration. "I bet if Katherine could see this now, she'd be green."

"What?" Selina asked.

Elena gestured at Stefan and Damon on either side of her. "Those two. Working together for a common goal. How do you do it?"

Selina shrugged. "I guess that's what happens when you live with people for a long time. They start to like you."

Elena nodded. "I guess so." She paused and looked at Stefan and Damon. "So, are we going?"

Just then, Selina noticed how Elena was dressed. "Why are you dressed like you got lost on your way to a sock hop?" she asked.

"Oh," Elena looked down at herself. "They're having a decade dance at school and this year, it's the fifties."

"Oh," Selina nodded. She looked at Stefan. "Is this what you were talking about?" she asked him. "Did you mean that Elena was going to come by later to take us to a dance?"

"Come on," Stefan said as he got off the bed and stood next to Elena. "It'll be fun! Besides, you've hardly left the house since you found out about your father."

"Even Damon's going," Elena added.

"_You are?_" Selina asked him in surprise.

"Yeah, why not?" he grinned. "You wouldn't want me to be dateless, would you?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. But all my fifties dresses are back at Dr. Stensrund's house, and we won't have time-"

"All except this one." Elena held out a dress with a white bodice and a red skirt. "Fix up your hair, add a scarf, and you could be Audrey Hepburn in _Roman Holiday."_

"Okay," Selina nodded and she and Elena quickly got to work. The four left the boarding house twenty minutes later.

"We aren't going to be late, are we?" Selina asked.

Elena shook her head. "No, of course not. I came over early enough that we should get there just in time."

They pulled up in front of the school and headed into the gym in twos. Elena and Selina went in first, Damon and Stefan followed.

"Elena!" Before either she or Selina had time to move further into the gym, Caroline and Bonnie descended on them, along with Caroline's date.

"Hi Bonne! Hi Caroline!" Elena hugged both of them and then Caroline looked at Selina curiously. Bonnie said hello, but nothing else.

"Who are you?" Caroline finally asked Selina.

"I'm Sophia Warren, actually," she told Caroline. "I was at the Halloween party earlier, but I don't think we've met."

"She's here with Damon," Elena added. "He and Stefan are around here somewhere."

"Well, I can't say much for your taste," Caroline said to Selina. Then she turned back to Elena, motioning for her date to come forward. "Elena," she said grandly, "this is Mitch Wilder. He's a family friend who plays basketball for Arizona State."

"A college boy, Caroline?" Elena asked, looking him over. He was good-looking, she had to admit: tall, with deep green eyes and light-brown hair. He had a strong cleft in his chin and a Roman nose.

He grinned at Elena, showing a set of sparkling teeth as he shook her hand. He turned to Selina and his eyes widened for a minute. Then they traveled downward to her neck, as if he were looking for something on it.

Finally, Caroline felt the need to bring him back reality. "Mitch! Earth to Mitch! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." His eyes snapped away from Selina's neck and he began making small talk with Caroline and Bonnie.

"Well, that was a little weird." Selina whispered to Elena.

"You mean the way he kept staring at your neck?" she asked. "Or the way his eyes got as big as saucers when he saw you?"

"Both." Selina kept watching him. "Maybe he's a new vampire or something. But even then, he should be able to sense that I'm one too."

"Think we should get Damon and Stefan over here to have a look at him?" Elena asked."

"Eventually," Selina nodded. "But let's have at least one dance first."

They headed over to where Damon and Stefan were standing by the punch bowl.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting," Elena said, "but Bonnie and Caroline caught us as soon as we got in and wanted to make small talk."

"And Caroline wanted to brag about her date," Selina added. "When Elena told her I was with you, she said she didn't respect my taste much." She looked at Damon.

"You want to know the story behind that remark?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I just want to dance."

The four of them headed out on the dance floor. Selina kept a sharp eye on Caroline and Mitch. He gave her a strange feeling, there wasn't any doubt about that. But it wasn't a _bad_ feeling. "Damon," she whispered as soon as the first dance ended, "there's Caroline and her date, Mitch. Does he seem familiar to you?"

Damon looked over at them. He noticed Mitch right away. And Selina was right. There was something about him that was familiar. "Yeah," Damon nodded. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. Does he make you feel that way too?"

"Not really," Selina replied. "I've never seen him before, but I feel like I should know him. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Not really," Damon replied. "But as long as it makes sense to you."

The rest of the dance passed uneventfully and on the way home, Selina tried to sort out her thoughts about Mitch.

"Stefan," she asked, "Did you notice Caroline's date?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Did he seem familiar to you at all?"

"No," Stefan shook his head. "Should he have?"

"I guess not," she replied. "It's just that Damon and I both think there's something familiar about him and we're trying to figure out what that is."

"He didn't trigger anything in me either," Elena added. "But when he first saw Selina, his eyes bugged out and he kept staring at her neck."

"That was something you neglected to mention when you told me about him," Damon told Selina. "Is he some old boyfriend of yours I don't know about?" It was said with good humor however, and Selina just shook her head.

"I told you," she said slowly, "I've never seen him before in my life."

"If you've never seen him before, how can there be something familiar about him?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know!" Selina said. "I have absolutely no idea. But if he's a new vampire, he's a particularly stupid one. Let's keep an eye on him, just in case."

They dropped Elena off at her house and headed back to the boarding house. As soon as they got inside, Selina decided her muscles were stiff and that she needed to soak in the tub. She headed upstairs and ran a bath, settling in for an hour or so. Then she got out, put on a bathrobe, and went to her closet to look for a night gown. To her dismay, her closet was empty, as was her dresser. Just as she was shutting the last drawer, Damon strolled in, grinning.

"Did you lose anything?" he asked.

"Yeah," Selina said. "All my clothes seem to be missing. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"

He nodded. "Stefan and I moved them into my room while you were in the bathtub."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he told her. "I figured that since you and I are on such good terms now, it might be fun for us to share a room."

"Fun?"

"Yeah, fun." He nodded. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No." she shook her head as she followed him to his room. "I'm just amazed that you were able to fit everything in here. And that you were able to get in and out without my knowing about it." She found a nightgown and changed into it, then went over to the bed.

"Do you sleep on the right or the left?"

"The left," he told her.

"Okay." She climbed into the right side of the bed and turned off the lamp. She still wondered about Mitch Wilder, but he could wait until morning. "Good night, Damon," she whispered.

"Goodnight, Selina," he whispered back. "We'll figure out what's going on with that guy tomorrow. I have a feeling the search is going to be very interesting."


	14. Talking in the Library

Selina sat up and blinked. Damon had gotten up before her again so she was alone in the bed. Of course his side wasn't made. It figured. She got out of bed and neatly tucked in her covers, setting her pillow on top. She dressed quickly and went downstairs, taking them two at a time. "Good morning," she announced when she arrived in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Stefan replied. "What are we going to do today? Do you still want to tail that Mitch Wilder guy?"

Selina thought a moment. "I don't know; he gave me a feeling, that's for sure. But it wasn't a _bad_ feeling. Maybe it's nothing. I don't know. Maybe we should just let it go and stick with the other project."

"Or," Stefan said, "Elena and I can deal with the other project and you and Damon could work on Mitch Wilder since you seem to have the weird sense about him."

Selina looked at Damon. "Would that work for you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that would work."

Selina sat back in her chair. "All right," she said, bringing her palms down on the table. "I'm going to go to the library and see if I can find anything interesting."

"Why would you just randomly decide to go to the library?" Damon asked.

Selina shrugged. "I like books." She left the kitchen, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door.

Damon watched her go and then turned to Stefan. "I bet she's still trying to figure out what happened with her father. Ten bucks says she comes back with an armload of books on body-snatchers."

Stefan nodded. "I'll take that bet."

They were right. As soon as Selina arrived, she did a search on books about funerary practices, murders, and grave robbing. After gathering an armload of books, she was walking to the checkout counter when she bumped into someone and fell with force, her books flying out of her arms and going every which way.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, looking up at the other person. To her surprise, Mitch was the person she'd bumped into.

"It's not a problem, really, Sophia," he replied, standing up. He gave her his hand and pulled her up with him. They turned to the pile of books and began picking them up.

"The Mexican-American War?" she asked him. "That interests you?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She handed him two books and then he continued. "Well, it's not just the Mexican-American War. I'm a history major at Arizona State. Military History is my specialty." He looked down at the two books that were in his hands, and then at the others that were on the floor. "I don't like to read reference books because they only tell half the story, and they don't even tell that well most of the time."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked, slowly picking up her own books.

"I mean," he said, "the best accounts I've read are ones by the soldiers who were actually fighting. Their stories of deprivation, disease, the stress of fighting, the thrill of winning a battle, that's the way to learn about war. By reading between the lines. By finding out what they don't tell you in books." When he saw that she was staring at him, he looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry. I tend to get carried away sometimes."

"No," Selina replied quickly, shaking her head. "It's great you're so passionate about something. I would love to have something that I love that much."

"What about," he picked up one of her books that still lay on the floor. "Grave-Robbing in the 19th Century?" He gave her a questioning look.

She grinned and shook her head. "I'm not passionate about grave robbing. I got these books for a research project I'm doing."

They picked the rest of the books off the floor and headed to a nearby table, sat them down on it, and then took chairs on either side. "What kind of research project?" Mitch asked.

"Well," she began, carefully choosing her words, "I came here from Charleston a few months ago because I wanted to find out more about my family. My parents are dead and I live with my uncle."

"I'm sorry," Mitch said.

She smiled. "Thank you. Anyway, one rainy Saturday, I was up in the attic seeing if I could find anything interesting in the boxes of junk. After hours of finding nothing, I stumbled upon this." She unclasped the locket and pushed it toward him. He looked it over slowly and set it back down on the table.

"Whose was it?" he asked.

"My uncle said her name was Selina Warren. She got engaged to a soldier, he went off to fight in the Civil War, and then she got scarlet fever and died before he got back so they were never able to get married. There's a very popular ghost story about her too."

"The one about the Lady in Red?" he asked. "I've heard that one. But doesn't it say that she ran off with the town doctor and was never heard from again?"

"If that's the version you want to believe," Selina replied bitterly. "I prefer to believe the other one where she stayed true to the soldier and when the doctor proposed marriage and she refused, he raped and murdered her and hid her locket, which was the soldier's engagement present, somewhere where she'd never find it."

"Wow," Mitch replied. "I think we found what you're passionate about."

She nodded. "Well, Selina is part of my family and I don't like it when people have the wrong idea about her. She had enough to worry about in her life without people thinking that she cheated on her fiancé and ran off with an older guy."

"What else happened to her?" he asked. His eyes were locked on hers and he didn't seem to be blinking.

Selina sighed. "We were talking about the Mexican-American War earlier, and coincidently, her father fought in that war. He shipped out two months after she was born in October of 1846, and then was dead by June 1847. After a period of mourning, her mother married a much-older man by the name of Robert Pierce and in 1848, they had a daughter named Katherine. Whether it was because he was insecure or that he was just a jerk, Mr. Pierce wasn't really good to Selina. He made her sleep in the cold attic and do all his daughter's bidding. Even after Katherine got a maid, Selina was still occasionally at her beck and call."

Selina paused when she realized that Mitch was frowning and tense, his hands balled into fists. He looked like he wanted to hit something. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He relaxed and nodded. "Sorry. But how could anyone with a heart be so cruel to a little girl?"

Selina thought a moment. "Well, it seems to me like Mr. Pierce didn't really have a heart. Or at least not a very big one. And if that's not bad enough, Selina went through the first eight years of her life thinking that Mr. Pierce was her biological father."

"What?" Mitch was frowning again. He jumped up and brought his fists down on the table, causing several people at nearby tables to look up in alarm. He looked around sheepishly and sat back down again. "What do you mean her mother waited eight years to tell her about her biological father? What was she thinking?" he whispered angrily.

"I'm sure she meant well," Selina whispered back, startled by his intense reaction to her life story. "She did eventually send Selina to a boarding school, and while she was a student there, she spent her summers and holidays with the Salvatores. They were family friends and very good to her."

Mitch relaxed again. "That's good."

"Yeah," Selina agreed. "But there's one thing that has me puzzled. When I was at the mayor's house, I was able to get my hands on some of Selina's mother's correspondence as well as her journal. In one of the journal entries, she writes about bringing Selina to the cemetery where her father was buried as a way to celebrate her first birthday since Mr. Pierce made her put away all of Selina's father's photos after they were married and wouldn't allow her to speak of him either. But when they get to the cemetery, the caretaker says that her father's body was taken by body snatchers. The last line in the journal entry is 'why would anyone with a heart steal a soldier's body?' It just seems like she wants to know so badly and now I do too. That's why I have all these books on body snatching and funerary rights. I want to know if in general they were bold enough to break into military cemeteries to get bodies."

Mitch was looking thoughtful. "Where was Selina's father fighting?"

"Texas," Selina replied. "I can't remember his unit though."

"Well," Mitch thought a moment. "I might have a suggestion about why Selina's father's body was taken. In Texas during the months he was in service, there was a typhoid epidemic sweeping through one of the Virginia regiments. It spread quickly and the hospitals had a difficult time making room for everyone. Sometimes, in order to make room, they would bury soldiers before they were absolutely certain they were dead."

"They would bury soldiers _alive_?" Selina asked.

"Yeah," Mitch said. "A lot of times they wouldn't catch the mistake until it was too late, but maybe Selina's father was one of the lucky ones and what the cemetery caretaker thought was a grave robbery was actually a rescue."

Selina brightened. "You mean there's a possibility her father wasn't taken away to be sliced up by novice medical school students?"

Mitch grinned and put a hand on hers. "I can almost guarantee it."

"Thanks," she said. "I've been worried about that for _days_."

She grinned. "So you know why I'm here; what about you?" she paused. "Or is it too personal? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, that's all right." He took his hand away and put it in his lap. "Do you want to know why I looked at you that way at the dance? Or why I kept staring at your neck?"

She nodded, wondering what this had to do with it.

"Well," he began, "this is going to sound really dumb, but I was in love with somebody once, and you remind me of her."

This wasn't what Selina had expected at all. "We don't look exactly alike, do we?" she asked. "Because that would be weird if it were true." again, she thought to herself.

"No," Mitch shook his head. "She was sweet, innocent and virtuous. And blonde."

"And I'm not any of those things?" Selina asked. "Well, obviously I'm not blonde," she held out some of her long black hair.

He smiled and shook his head. "No. I have a feeling you don't mind bending rules when the occasion calls for it. But it seems to work for you."

"If we're nothing alike, how can I remind you of her?" Selina asked.

"Well," Mitch positioned himself so that they were looking into each other's eyes and their foreheads were touching. "She had the most beautiful blue eyes. And you do too." They stared at one another in silence for a moment. As he was pulling away, Selina thought he was going to kiss her. He did, just a gentle touch of his lips to her forehead.

"I come back to Mystic Falls every so often because she and I spent our happiest days together here. But then I decided I had to see the world and I left her. Then, due to circumstances beyond my control, I never saw her again."

"That's so sad!" Selina said. "I'm really sorry."

"That's all right," he assured her. "Now do you want to know why I was staring at your neck?"

She nodded.

"You have a little mark toward the back that's shaped like a heart and I was trying to figure out what it was."

"Oh," Selina said. "It's just a birthmark. I've had it my whole life. But it's so small that no one usually notices it unless they know it's there."

Mitch said nothing, but nodded imperceptibly.

Just then, Selina's cell phone rang. She answered it and was surprised to hear Damon's voice on the other end. "Yeah, I'm still at the library. Sorry I haven't called back. I ran into Mitch and we've been talking. Yeah, I'll be on my way in a minute. Bye Damon."

She snapped the phone shut and looked at Mitch apologetically. "Sorry, that was my boyfriend. He gets worried if I stay out for long periods of time and forget to call."

Mitch nodded. "Damon? Was he the guy you were dancing with at the Halloween party?" he asked.

Selina nodded, surprised. "You were at the Halloween party too?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah. It was weird seeing him again. It's been years since I saw him last. He's changed a lot. And who was that guy he kept talking to? The one who was with Elena?"

"That's Stefan, his younger brother," Selina said.

"Oh," Mitch nodded. "I'd love to meet him sometime."

Selina nodded, standing up. "Look, I'm sorry, but I should be going."

He nodded. "Have a good day."

As she walked away, he said slowly "it was good seeing you again…Selina Amelia Elizabeth Warren."

She turned around to respond, but by then he was already gone.


	15. Alias: Mitch Wilder

Selina raced to her car and drove back to the boarding house at breakneck speed. She burst in the door and threw her books down on the couch. "Guys," she said breathlessly to Damon and Stefan, "I think we have a very big problem on our hands."

"What kind of problem?" Stefan asked.

Damon looked at the books on the couch. "Oh, look; she did get books on body snatchers. Somebody owes me ten dollars."

Selina stopped and blinked, rubbing her temples. "Damon, did you just hear me say that we have a very big problem on our hands?"

"Yeah, I heard you," he said, picking up the top book and flipping through the first few pages. "Are you going to tell us what it is or are you just going to stand there freaking out about it?"

"What kind of problem?" Stefan repeated.

Selina fell back onto the couch and exhaled slowly trying to calm herself down. "Mitch knows who I am," she said finally.

Damon looked up. "What's the matter with that? I thought you made Sophia up so that you could talk to people and not worry about being discovered."

Selina shook her head violently. "Not Sophia, Selina. He knows who I _really_ am. Do you think that means he knows _what_ I really am too?"

Stefan sat down beside her. "What exactly happened at the library?" he asked. "I know you and Mitch were talking, but what did you talk about?"

"Well that was even weirder," Selina replied. "I literally ran into him just as I was about to leave. Our books went flying everywhere and when we went to pick them up, I discovered that he was into the Mexican-American War. Then he asked me why I had books on grave robbing and I told him about what I had read in Mama's journal and—"

"You told him as Sophia, right?" Damon interrupted. "You didn't say that you found this stuff in your mother's journal?"

"Of course I didn't." Selina replied. "I told him that I was visiting from Charleston to look up my family roots and was curious about what happened to Matthew Warren."

"And what did he say?" Stefan asked.

"Something kind of nice, actually," Selina replied. "He told me that when my father was fighting in Texas, there was a typhoid epidemic. It was so severe that sometimes, in order to make room for everyone, they would bury bodies before it was certain they were dead all the way, and that maybe what the caretaker saw that night was my father being rescued from being buried alive rather than being dug up and taken away to some medical school for dissection."

"I was wondering when you were going to get to the nice part," Damon said dryly.

Just then, the front door opened and Elena walked in. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Apparently, Mitch Wilder knows who Selina really is," Stefan informed her as she took a seat next to him. "Selina met up with him at the library and had a very interesting conversation which Selina is telling us about right now."

"Oh," Elena said, eyes wide. "What have I missed?"

"Mitch thinks that Matthew Warren wasn't taken by body-snatchers at all, but was instead rescued after being buried prematurely during a typhoid epidemic," Stefan answered.

"May I continue?" Selina asked.

"Sure," Elena replied.

"And when we got onto the topic of my life, when I told him about what went on between me, Mr. Pierce and Katherine, he got angry. He tensed up, his hands were balled into fists, and he looked like he just wanted to kill somebody. Hearing that Mama waited eight years to tell me about Matthew Warren upset him too; it was the weirdest thing. I still don't understand it. Then we got to why _he _was in Mystic Falls."

"Let me guess: that was a weird conversation too?" Elena said.

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "It answered our questions about why he looked at me funny at the dance and why he kept staring at my neck."

"And why was that?" Elena asked.

"Well," Selina began, "Mitch is a vampire himself, or at least the way he told the story would have given it away if nothing else had. Apparently he was in love with a girl a long time ago and I remind him of her."

"That's original," Elena remarked.

"I know," Selina smiled. "Apparently I don't have the same personality as her, and we look practically nothing alike. Except, Mitch said, we both have pretty blue eyes. That's what reminds him of her. Apparently they were in love and he left to see the world. Then, due to circumstances beyond his control, he never saw her again. He comes back here every so often to remind himself of the good times they had together."

"And why was he staring at your neck?" Stefan asked. "Did he want to bite you?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "He noticed the birthmark on my neck."

"You have a birthmark on your neck?" Elena asked.

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "It's so small that most people don't bother looking for it unless they already know it's there." She'd decided to leave the forehead kiss out of the conversation for the moment.

"Selina," Damon asked, "When Mitch was telling you about his girlfriend, he didn't mention anything about the two of them having a child together, did he?"

Selina shook her head. "He didn't. Why?"

"No reason. Just curious." Damon was grinning a little.

"Do you know something I don't know?" she asked.

"I know a lot of things you don't know," he replied. "I _am_ older than you after all."

"Mitch also talked about you," Selina told him. "After you called, he said that he saw us dancing at the Halloween Ball, and that you've changed a lot in the many years since he last saw you."

Damon was looking at her strangely now. "Selina," he said, "where'd you put your mother's journal?"

"It's still in my other room on the bed. Why?" Selina asked.

"Because I know something you don't know," he replied. He left the room to go get Amelia Warren's journal and Selina, Stefan, and Elena sat in silence until he came back. "I'm going to read to the three of you from the page after Amelia talks about the "body-snatching". He cleared his throat.

"_October 8, 1847_

_I'm still in shock over what happened at Matthew's grave. It makes me feel sad that Selina will never be able to see her father in any way, shape, or form, at least as long as Mr. Pierce lives. I want to describe him to her so that someday if she reads this, she'll at least get a sense of what her father looked like. He was tall and handsome with eyes the color of grass in the summer. His hair was light brown. He had a strong cleft in his chin, and a Roman nose. He was so sweet, and loving that no one in the world could replace him. And he loved Selina very much. That's what I want her to remember most of all._

_Amelia Warren."_

Damon shut the journal and looked up at the other three: All of them were looking back at him in shock. Naturally, Selina was the first to speak.

"Are you trying to tell me that Mitch Wilder is actually my _father_?" she asked.

"I'm not _trying_ to tell you that, I _am_ telling you that. You don't have to think about it too hard for it to make sense. How did he reveal to you that he knew who you really were?"

"He called me by my full name," Selina said slowly. "Selina Amelia Elizabeth Warren."

"Uh-huh," Damon nodded. "And he knew about your birthmark, which, as we have previously stated, no one really looks for unless they already know it's there, and how many other people besides me, living today would know your birthmark is there?"

"Not many?" She asked. "And he would know about it because he was there when I was born?"

"Yeah," Damon replied. "That's probably what he used to make sure it was you. It's practically the only thing about you that hasn't changed since he saw you last."

"He knew what happened to your father," Elena added. "And who else but your actual father would be mad enough to kill when he heard what Mr. Pierce did to you? Or that your mother waited eight years to tell you about him?"

"Mad enough to kill…" Damon trailed off.

"What?" Stefan asked.

"What if it wasn't Michael who killed Mr. Pierce?" Damon asked. "What if it was Matthew Warren on one of his return trips to Mystic Falls?"

"My father wouldn't kill anyone!" Selina said. "You read what my mother thought about him: 'he was so sweet and loving that no one could replace him.' He sounds like he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Unless that fly had hurt his baby first," Stefan said quickly, jumping into the conversation. "Your mother also said that he loved you very much and since he left when you were two months old, I bet he still thought of you as more helpless then you actually were. And when he heard that Mr. Pierce had hit you, maybe he wanted to take revenge."

"But I was fourteen when Mr. Pierce was killed!" Selina cried. "I wasn't helpless at all!"

"I bet 'Daddy lenses' distorted his thought process," Elena said. "No matter how old you get, you'll still be his little girl."

"So basically," Selina said, looking at them all, "everyone here is completely convinced that Mitch Wilder is actually my father?"

"Yeah," Elena said. "Aren't you yet?"

"I don't entirely know yet," Selina answered. "I'll have to sleep on it first."

They spend the rest of the day looking for things that might help them locate Emily's grimoire, but were unsuccessful.

That night, Selina and Damon had a talk.

"What would it take to convince you that Mitch is your father?" he asked.

"An honest answer about how the hell he got here," Selina said. "People don't just go off to war and come back vampires!"

"Well people just don't go off to doctor's houses to be cured of scarlet fever and come back vampires either, but here you are," Damon pointed out.

"Wait," Selina said. "Dr. Stensrund was there when my father was rescued. Maybe he turned him too. Wouldn't that be a sick coincidence?"

"Yes, it would," Damon said. "Now can we please stop talking about this, at least until tomorrow? We've been going back and forth for hours."

"Sorry," Selina said and turned off the light. "Goodnight, Damon."

As soon as they were both asleep, Mitch entered their room. He held Amelia's journal in one hand. Putting it gently into a bag that was over his shoulder, he gently picked Selina up off the bed, and carried her out of the boarding house, placed her in the backseat of his car and drove away.


	16. The Good Doctor

There was a dog barking outside the window. That was what had woken Selina up this morning. And that was strange because she'd never noticed the dog before. She opened her eyes and right away, she could tell something was wrong. She was definitely _not_ at the boarding house. "Toto, I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore," she whispered to herself. She pushed the covers away slowly and eased herself out of the bed. The question was where was she?" Leaning against the bed with one hand on the bedknob, she looked around. The room she was in had rose wallpaper on the walls and a large, antique wooden dresser with a hinged mirror. She stepped forward to look into the mirror and saw that the glass was old and wavy. She gazed at her warped image for a second. It seemed to shift and turn, until the image she was looking at wasn't herself, but a little girl.

She gasped and stepped away, backing to sit at the cedar chest by the foot of the bed. Taking a deep breath, she thought to herself, there has to be some rational reason why I was at the boarding house last night and now, in the morning, I'm somewhere completely new. The knock on the bedroom door seemed to answer all her questions. That's probably Damon now, coming to tell me where we are and why we left in the middle of the night. She stood up from the cedar chest and strode to the door, opening it. "Damon, tell me why we're…" she trailed off when she saw it was Mitch "…here." She finished.

"Hi Selina," he grinned easily at her. "How did you sleep last night?" He was holding a tray of orange juice, toast and eggs in one hand. He was apparently one of those vampires who still liked to eat despite the fact that it didn't to him any good. She didn't mind that.

"Fine," Selina answered. "But where are we? And why am I here?"

The smile quickly left his face and his expression became somber. "This is for you if you want it," he told her, putting the tray down on the cedar chest. "Are you mad at me?"

Selina sat down and drank some of the juice. "I'm not mad, I'm just really confused. Last I remember, Damon and I were talking about stuff and then we went to sleep. And this morning, I'm in a completely new place and neither Damon nor Stefan is anywhere to be seen. They probably don't even know where I am. Why did you kidnap me? You're my father and fathers aren't supposed to do stuff like that!"

She put the juice down and looked up at him pointedly. He looked taken aback. "So you know. How did you figure it out?"

"I didn't figure it out, actually. Damon did. He put together all the stuff you said about your old girlfriend, and your being mad about what Mr. Pierce did to me, and how Mama kept you from me for eight years. And how you knew about the birthmark. That was a giveaway too."

He was grinning again. "I'm about as subtle as a Mack truck, aren't I?"

Selina nodded. "Yeah. I should have been able to figure it out on my own."

Mitch sighed. "It's not really your fault. How could you have known all of that to put it together? Anyway, this place," he gestured around the room," was your old bedroom. It's changed a little, obviously. And this house was the one you, your mother and I lived in before I left. I brought you here because we have things to talk about and I don't want any interruptions before everything is brought out into the open. And I left Damon and Stefan a note. They should be here eventually."

"Why did you leave?" Selina asked. "Wasn't I a good enough reason for you to stay home?"

"You really were," he said. "But my father had fought in the war of 1812, and your uncle Andrew and I grew up listening to his tales about how wonderful being in battle was and how good fighting was for a man's character. So naturally when I got the chance, I signed up."

"But I thought you said I was a good enough reason to stay home!" Selina said. "Did you have any idea that you might get killed when you left?"

"I didn't at first," Mitch replied. "I had all these glorious notions of coming back a hero covered in medals. I told them to your mother and she got as swept up in it as I did. But then when I actually got into the fighting, things changed."

"You realized that war wasn't all it was cracked up to be, huh?" Selina asked.

"Yeah, and I wanted to go home before I was killed. I wrote my father, who was with the war department, to get me an honorable discharge, but he told me that Warren men didn't quit wars and that he certainly wouldn't see any son of his disgrace the family in that fashion. So I resigned myself to it."

"Family pride," Selina said, sighing. "It figures, doesn't it?"

"He was also a proponent of Manifest Destiny," Mitch said. "And of course that's what the Mexican American war was about; expanding the country by taking land from Mexico. Eventually, we began to win fights and just as I was warming to fighting, that was when the typhoid epidemic hit. I got it of course and was taken off the field and sent straight to the hospital. Soldiers were usually just seen as numbers in places like that, but the head doctor and I became fast friends. When I was lucid, he would talk to me, encourage me and give me news."

"He sounds nice," Selina commented. "What was his name?"

Mitch paused a moment, then said quietly "Dr. Roger Stensrund."

Selina's eyes widened. "My God, that damned son-of-a-bitch turned you too!" she yelled.

Mitch frowned "Selina Amelia Elizabeth, watch your language. I won't have you talking about him that way. He was a good man."

Selina scoffed. "No he wasn't. That bastard ruined my life and I reserve the right to call him whatever the hell I want!"

Mitch sat down next to her and put a hand on her arm. "Honey please," he said quietly. "He saved my life."

Selina sighed. "All right, I'll keep my opinions to myself."

"Thank you." He stood up. "And Dr. Stensrund didn't turn me. It was his nurse, Lucy."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the boarding house, Damon had just found the note. "Mitch took Selina last night," he told Stefan, setting the note down in front of him.

"He did?" Stefan asked. "I didn't see her this morning, but I just assumed she'd gotten up before you and gone off somewhere."

Damon shook his head. "Selina never gets up before I do."

Stefan was reading the note.

"_Damon and Stefan, I realize that this probably isn't the best plan in the world, but I've taken Selina to the old house. She and I have several things to discuss and I feel that it would best be done without interruption or interference from anyone, even the two of you. However, it might be good if you came by sometime in the early afternoon tomorrow. It might help her deal with what she's going to hear more easily having the two of you there with her._

_Matthew Warren_

"He's using his real name again," Stefan observed. "That's interesting." He looked at the note again. "I don't get this at all. First he says that he doesn't want to have anyone with her when they talk, and then he says he wants us there later today. Which one is it?"

"He probably didn't want us there in the beginning because they're having one of those tender father daughter reunions and having anyone else there would spoil the moment. But after he tells her everything, she's going to feel hurt and shocked, and a little moral support wouldn't be such a bad idea," Damon said.

"I would hardly call a middle-of-the-night abduction a tender father-daughter reunion," Stefan remarked dryly. "So, where's the old house, and are we going to go?"

"Of course we're going to go!" Damon said. "And the old house is that abandoned one that's down the street from the Lockwood mansion, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Stefan said. He folded up the note and put it in his pocket. "It's eleven o'clock now. When do you want to go?"

Damon thought a moment. "Let's leave at one. Call Elena and see if she wants to come too. She's already so involved that she'd probably be mad at you if she found out she missed such a big part of the story."

* * *

Selina looked at Mitch in surprise. "His nurse turned you?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah. When Dr. Stensrund told me that there was nothing else they could do for me except make me comfortable while I waited for Death. He also wanted to know if there was anyone he could contact and let them know that I was dying. I told him about you, and your mother. Then later that day he left and went to let your mother know personally. It really meant a lot to me that he cared that much."

"And when did Lucy turn you?"

"That evening. She came to bring me a cloth for my forehead. At first I didn't realize she was there. Then, she told me she could save me."

Selina smirked. "Let me guess: She thought you were cute and turned you so that you and she could be together forever."

"No," Mitch said, then corrected himself. "She_ did_ think I was cute. But she felt sorry that I was going die without having a chance to say goodbye to the two of you. That's why she turned me. So that I could go home and be with you."

"No romantic motivation?"

"No," Mitch shook his head. "I think Dr. Stensrund had turned her sometime before. So the two of them were a couple. Anyway, we had our first exchange of blood that night and Dr. Stensrund came by a couple of days later and was amazed at how much better I seemed. It was the same the second time. But the third was when I was actually turned. We exchanged blood and then she gave me water full of cyanide."

Déjà vu again, Selina thought.

"Dr. Stensrund was the first to find me after my death. Lucy wasn't with him when he ordered me buried and by the time she'd returned, I was already in the ground. When she told him what she'd done, he was furious. They took one of the other attendants along and went to the cemetery where they got me out just in time.

"Dr. Stensrund took me in after that. Taught me the ropes. By the time I was in my right mind, I asked him if I could go home. He looked at me sadly and said 'I don't think that's a good idea my boy. The army's probably already informed your wife of your death, so I don't think it would be good if you just showed up on your front doorstep.'

"I told him about you, and how I didn't want to just leave you alone. He told me that he'd noticed the doctor in Mystic Falls had recently retired. He left the next day to see about getting the position here. That way, he could watch out for you and report to me. And if I came to his house every so often, I could see you. That helped alleviate my guilt."

"Dr. Stensrund became the doctor in Mystic Falls to watch over _me_?" Selina was stunned. Every thought she'd ever had about Roger Stensrund was shifting.

"Yes," Mitch said. "And he would report to me. How do you think I knew about what Mr. Pierce did to you?"

"Did you really kill him?" Selina asked.

"Yeah," Mitch said. "What Dr. Stensrund was telling me was pretty awful and I just couldn't bear the thought of you hurting anymore."

"Thank you, I guess." Selina said after a moment.

"My visits were yearly," Mitch continued. "Sometimes your mother would leave you with Dr. Stensrund and Lucy when she had to go on trips. Like when an aunt of hers in Charleston passed away. That was a good week for me."

"Wait," Selina said. "If you came by every year, and we spent time together, how come I don't remember any of it? There have been times in my life where that would have done me a lot of good!"

"I know, I know." Mitch told her. "Don't be mad, but after every visit, especially after you started talking, we erased your memory. We thought that if we didn't, you might inadvertently say something about me to your mother."

"What if she just assumed that you were an imaginary friend or something?" Selina asked.

"We didn't think about that," Mitch admitted. "And again, I'm sorry."

"When did you stop visiting?" Selina asked.

"After you moved in with the Salvatores," Mitch said. "Dr. Stensrund told me that things were going well, so I stopped worrying. Then, in 1864, he sent me a note saying that I should come and see him because he had a surprise for me. But I wasn't able to get away until early 1865. And when I got to his house, he wasn't there. And I looked everywhere. It's the strangest thing."

Selina took a deep breath. "He wasn't there in 1865 because I'd killed him by then."


	17. The Hole in the Plan

Mitch stiffened and frowned. "You_ killed _Doctor Stensrund?"

Selina bristled. "You have absolutely no right to look at me that way! If it wasn't for you two and your silly memory-erasing then I might have remembered that he was a good guy and maybe I wouldn't have done it! So in a sense, his being gone is your fault not mine."

Just then the front door opened and Stefan called out "Selina! Mitch! Where are you?"

Selina went to the door. "How about I just go let them in?" she left her old bedroom and navigated through the hallways. Finally, she found Damon, Stefan and Elena by one of the staircases near the front entryway. "Thank God you're here," she said. "You wouldn't believe some of the things Daddy Dearest has told me."

"Are they good things?" Elena asked.

Selina thought a moment. "They_ should have been_ good things," she said finally. "But they aren't. Now Mitch is all mad at me because I just told him that I killed Dr. Stensrund. Even though that's really his fault not mine, if you think about it." She began to walk back to her bedroom and the other three followed.

"How is _your_ killing Dr. Stensrund Matthew's fault?" Stefan asked.

"Why don't you ask him?" Selina said. "I'm sure he'd _love_ to tell you about how he used to visit me after he was turned but after I started talking, he and Dr. Stensrund would always erase my memories of the visits so I wouldn't go blabbing about them to my mother."

"Your father and Dr. Stensrund were _friends_?" Elena asked just as Selina opened her bedroom door.

"We were," Mitch said. "He was the doctor at the army hospital when I had typhoid fever. After I was turned, he taught me the ropes. And when he realized that I couldn't be with Selina anymore, he took the doctor job in Mystic Falls so he could watch over her and report the goings-on back to me."

"That's what made him kill Mr. Pierce," Selina said, sitting back down on the bed.

"Wait a minute," Elena said, sitting down on the cedar chest "Dr. Stensrund was a _good guy_?"

"Yeah," Mitch nodded. "And that's why I'm having trouble understanding why Selina would kill him."

"She had every right to!" Elena said. "He turned her and ruined her life!"

"_He turned you_?" Mitch looked at Selina in shock.

"Yes he did. That's what I meant when I asked if he turned you too. You know that story of the Lady in Red that I told you in the library? The doctor in the story is Doctor Stensrund. If you take the pro-Lady in Red story and replace 'raped and murdered' with 'exchanged blood with and poisoned' then you get an idea of what happened."

Mitch was shaking his head. "I don't understand. He was so good to you. He treated you like you were his granddaughter. Why would he want to turn you?"

Selina sighed. "He told me he was in love with me," she said finally. "When I first woke up as a vampire, I was tied to a chair in his attic, and racked with bloodlust. After I had some blood in me, I discovered the locket was missing, just like I told you. He hid the locket in the front yard and replaced it with an 'engagement ring'." She held out the hand that had the ring on it and Mitch looked it over. "The surprise he talked about in the last letter he wrote you was probably that he turned me and that the two of us were engaged."

"My God," he said finally, "This _is _his. Or at least a copy of one that he had."

"And instead of giving me a nice animal diet like he gave you, he would lure drifters and other people nobody would miss to his house so that I could practice on them."

Mitch was looking sick to his stomach. "And by practice on them, you mean…?"

"He would untie me; I would rush them, attack them, and suck them dry." Selina said. "I don't know why, though. Maybe he wanted to make me a stronger person then I'd been when I was alive. That lasted about a week. Then I escaped.

"Once I was out, I thought about going back home, but I was still kind of out of it and didn't want to hurt anyone, so I hid out in the woods and ate squirrels and bunny rabbits for six months. That was a real treat. Then one day, Michael found me."

"Who's Michael?" Mitch asked.

"My cousin," Selina said. "Uncle Thomas and Aunt Rose's son."

"Ah," Mitch said. "A Lockwood. You miss a lot of things when you go off to war, don't you?"

"Michael was in love with Selina," Damon added.

"No he wasn't!" Stefan, Elena, and Selina said together.

"Anyway," Selina continued, "Michael found me feeding on a squirrel and the sight of him absolutely terrified me because I'd heard they were rounding up vampires in town and taking them away. I thought he was going to stake me, but instead, he handed me a paper that had an article in it about those two," she indicated Damon and Stefan, "taking my sister Katherine to the Founder's Day Ball. Then he promised that as long as he and his descendents lived in the town, I could stay here and be safe.

"When I saw the article, my mind cleared. I realized the extent of what had happened to me and everything that it had cost me. I left the woods, went back to Doctor Stensrund's house, sucked him nearly dry, and then staked him. I've been staying at his house, spending his money, and drinking his booze ever since."

"So you killed him because Katherine went to the Founder's Ball with Damon and Stefan instead of you," Mitch said. He was starting to look angry. "I can't believe you. The guy was one of my closest friends."

"She and Damon were engaged at that point," Elena said.

"Really?" His expression lightened and he looked back and forth from Damon to his daughter. "You never mentioned that."

"I would have eventually," Selina said. She slipped the locket off, and after some gentle maneuvering, managed to get it open. Inside was an old picture of Damon on one side and a lock of his hair on the other. "See?"

"Wow," Elena said. "We tried to get it open after we found it, but we couldn't make it budge."

Selina looked at her. "Well, now you know what's in it." She kept it open a little longer, then shut it and put it back around her neck, and looked at Mitch. "And do you understand at least a little why I killed Doctor Stensrund?" she asked.

Mitch sighed. "I guess I do. I just don't understand what would make him act that way. He was the nicest guy in the world when I knew him. If you believe me," he said, looking at Selina.

"Why would you lie about it?" Selina asked.

"So the question is," Stefan said looking at Mitch, "what happened between the last time you saw him in whatever year that was-"

"1860, just before Selina moved in with you," Mitch supplied.

"Right," Stefan said. "What happened between 1860 and 1864 when he took in Selina to turn him from a nice guy to an evil, ruthless one?"

The room was silent while they tried to think up an explanation. Finally, Selina had it.

"Katherine," she said quietly.

"What?" Stefan said.

"She wanted me out of the way so she could turn you and Damon so she and Emily plotted to make me sick," Selina said. "They knew that Dr. Stensrund was the only doctor in town so I'd have to go see him to get a diagnosis. Maybe Katherine messed with Doctor Stensrund's brain and that made him delusional or something."

They just stared at her.

"Hey, it's just a theory," Selina said. "Don't look at me like I'm insane. Let's hear your ideas."

Nobody said anything.

"I thought so," Selina frowned. "This is just another good reason for us to continue with the other project at hand. Let's go back to the house and continue looking for whatever it is that will tell us the location of Emily's grimoire!"

She got up and left the room.

"What project is she talking about?" Mitch asked.

"Well," Damon said, "Katherine was taken away by the citizenry of Mystic Falls during the Great Vampire Cleansing of 1864. To save her life, Emily cast a spell that kept her and 26 other vampires in a mummified state in tomb underneath the church. My original plan before I knew Selina was here was to resurrect Katherine so that the two of us could live happily ever after."

"But now that you know Selina's here?" Mitch asked.

"Now, we're going to call her up so Selina can show her that she's changed and have closure."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Mitch said.

At that moment, Selina came back in the room. "Isn't anyone else coming with me?"

"Your father doesn't think our plan to resurrect Kathrine is a good idea," Damon told her.

"And why not?" Selina asked, glaring at her father.

"Because Kathrine is-" Mitch began.

"A bitch that deserves a kick in the ass?" Selina said.

"No, Katherine is-" Mitch tried again.

"The spawn of hell in human form?"

"No!" Mitch said. "Selina will you let me finish my sentence please?"

"No," Selina shook her head. Her voice was resolute. "I don't care what you say. I'm going to bring her back and give her a piece of my mind. And there's nothing you can say that will stop me."

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the room.

The other four watched her go and then sat in silence. Finally, Elena said "Mitch, why is resurrecting Katherine not a good idea?"

Mitch sighed. "Because Katherine's not in the tomb at all. I don't know where she is now, but I saw her about twenty-five years ago. In Chicago, 1983. And in the state Selina's in, if she gets her hands on the grimoire, she might inadvertently release someone who's very, very dangerous."


	18. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Mitch was having a dream: _Selina was in bed; she looked awful. She was pale and shaky, her eyes were rimmed in red, and her long black hair was a mess. She looked different somehow. It definitely wasn't her as she was today. This must have been what she was like back then, after he stopped visiting. After a moment, the door to the bedroom opened and in walked Dr. Stensrund. He sat beside her on the bed and took her hand. He asked her something, although Mitch couldn't quite understand what it was. After he asked it, Selina had an angry look on her face. She began to shake her head wildly, holding on to the locket she always wore, as if showing it to him. This went on for awhile before Dr. Stensrund finally put his hand on her shoulder to stop her. Then, he left the room for a moment, coming back with a glass of some sort of medicine. Selina took it and then settled down to sleep…next, she was in an attic, tied to a chair and thrashing wildly. She had fangs and they were bared as she struggled to free herself. Mitch was afraid she was going to knock the chair over and hurt herself. Then, Dr. Stensrund entered. They began to talk. This time, Mitch understood their conversation._

"_Let me go, please," Selina was saying. "I'm so hungry."_

"_In just a minute, Selina. You have to be patient." Dr. Stensrund was looking at her now as if she were a dangerous animal he was trying to tame. And perhaps she was._

"_And where's my locket?" she asked. "I had it two seconds ago and I want it back!"_

"_Ah, my dear." Dr. Stensrund was looking at her with pity now. "I hid it for your own good. You'll never find it. If I can't have you, no one can."_

"_I want to eat. Now." Selina snapped. Mitch could tell she'd just been turned. Only new vampires had that much trouble controlling their urges._

"_You want to eat?" Dr. Stensrund asked. "Fine."_

_And it was only then that Mitch noticed the two men chained to the wall of the attic across from Selina's chair. They were half-awake. Dr. Stensrund untied her slowly. "Go ahead and eat, my dear," he said, nodding at the men. "Eat all you want." _

_Selina charged the two men, going straight for both their necks. Blood was spurting everywhere, and when Selina had finished with one man, she threw his body aside and went for the other one. He met the same fate. By the time she was finished, she seemed to have gained some of her mind back. She began to cry, sobbing with all her might as she gazed at the two lifeless men on the attic floor. She threw herself down beside them and didn't say a word._

"No!" He woke up with a gasp. He didn't usually dream, but this one had been vivid, real, and terrifying. He had no doubt why he was dreaming it. Selina had probably sent it to him to prove her point about Dr. Stensrund. And as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, it had worked. He now believed everything she'd told him without question. It would probably make her day when he told her.

* * *

"So," Selina said as she strolled into the kitchen of the boarding house and saw Mitch sitting at the table. "Did you have any interesting, unusually terrifying and vivid dreams last night?" She sat down next to him, an action that surprised him a little.

"As a matter of fact, I did," he told her dryly. "And I have to admit, I admire your tactics."

"Did they work?" she asked seriously. "Do you believe me now?"

After a moment, he nodded. "I do. I don't like what I saw, but I do believe you. Does that make you feel better?"

She thought a moment. "It doesn't make up for everything, but it helps a little."

Mitch sighed. "Selina, if this is about Dr. Stensrund and I erasing all your memories of me, we didn't do it to hurt you. We had good intentions and we meant well."

She stood up, frowning. "Everybody means well, Mitch. Like how Mama meant well when she married again; how she meant well when she sent me away from home to that stupid, hoity-toity finishing school; like when she let me think Mr. Pierce was my father for eight years so that I wouldn't feel like a part of me was missing; and like you, when you left to expand the country and win medals, leaving me to be at the mercy of the devil in the guise of Robert Pierce. Yes, people mean well. But in the end, despite good intentions, something always goes wrong, and somebody always ends up getting hurt."

Mitch could only stare at her. He could literally think of nothing to say to that. He was saved however, by the sound of somebody coming down the stairs. He looked up, and at the sight of Stefan and Damon let out a visible sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "Mitch was just telling me about an unusually vivid dream he had last night. But I have to go. I have errands to run in town. I should be back in a while though; I'll have my cell on if anyone needs to reach me." And with that, she left out the back door, being careful to slam it behind her.

"Are you going to be okay?" Stefan asked Mitch.

"Yeah, I think," he replied. "When she gets this way, how long does it usually last?"

"Until she does something really, really stupid. Or nearly does something stupid," Damon answered. "A month ago, she was mad at me, so one day she decided she couldn't live here anymore and then went off with Tyler Lockwood to stay with him. only after she moved in, did she realize his intentions were more romantic then platonic or familial, and once he demonstrated that by attempting to seduce her, she came to her senses and moved back in. Well, to be more exact, she went to a bar and got drunk _and then_ I brought her back here and it's where she's been ever since."

"Thanks for that," Mitch said. "So she got so mad at you that she ran off and almost slept with her _cousin_?"

"Yeah," Damon said. "She might try it again this time. Or she might just come back home once she's blown off some steam. She can be quite unpredictable sometimes."

"She said she had some errands to run; do you think we should worry?" Mitch asked.

"I wouldn't yet," Stefan said. "She let things go on for quite some time before she started the whole thing with Tyler. Let's just assume that she really is doing errands, and watch her for signs of anything weird after she gets back."

* * *

Selina parked in the street, walked up the front steps of the house and rang the doorbell. After awhile, someone came and answered. It was Bonnie.

"Selina!" she said in surprise, "what are you doing here?"

"I need a favor," Selina replied. "Can we talk? It can be out here if it would make you feel more comfortable."

After watching her for a moment, Bonnie carefully stepped out onto the front steps. "What do you need? And why do you need it from me? We barely know each other."

"Well," Selina said, "this is going to sound crazy, and it'll probably even freak you out a little, but Damon told me that my sister is buried in a tomb under the church instead of, you know, being dead like I originally thought she was. He had this idea that he could bring her back, you know; resurrect her somehow with magic, only, due to some bad luck, the easy way to do that isn't really doable anymore. We went to Georgia to talk to one of his exes who is a witch, and she said that if we could get our hands on Emily's spell book, we could find the spell she used to seal up my sister, and we could bring Katherine back so that I could have closure. The only problem is, once we find the book, we'll need a witch to perform the spell. Would you be willing?"

Bonnie's eyes widened. "You're asking me to help you bring your sister back?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah," Selina said. It would really help me out."

"It's just going to be her, right?" Bonnie asked. "Not any of the others?"

Selina shook her head. "No, just Katherine, I promise. I want to have a few words with her and then it'll all be over, because I'm going to destroy her."

Bonnie thought a moment, then sighed. "All right. I guess if you promise not to let the town be overrun by all the vampires in the tomb, I'll help you out with the spell."

Selina smiled and hugged her. "Thank you, Bonnie. You have no idea how grateful I am for what you've just promised to do for me."

"Bonnie, who's at the door?"

Bonnie looked up at the older woman who stood with her hand on the doorframe and smiled at her. "Grams, this is Selina. She's visiting from Charleston and staying with Stefan and Damon."

Grams eyed Selina suspiciously. "You're one of them, aren't you?" she asked. "A vampire?"

Selina bristled. "I didn't come here to cause trouble if that's what you're inferring," she said. "I came to asked Bonnie a favor, which she has kindly agreed to do for me."

Grams frowned at Bonnie. "What did I tell you about dealing with vampires?" she asked. "It doesn't lead to good. Any time witches get involved in vampire affairs, it turns out to be a big mess." She looked at Selina. "Whatever it is you want, we won't do it for you. Be on your way now."

"I think you _will_ do me that favor," Selina said, standing up. "After all, you do owe me one."

Grams shook her head. "We don't owe you anything."

"Actually Grams," Bonnie said slowly, "in a sense, we _do_ owe her."

"_What?"_ Grams asked.

"My name is Selina Warren," Selina said. "And your ancestress Emily Bennet was handmaiden to my half-sister Katherine. To help satisfy one of Katherine's sick whims involving my fiancée and my future brother-in-law, Emily made me sick with some magical plants to prevent me from getting in the way. She gave me a fatal type of scarlet fever, which put me in the care of Dr. Stensrund, who was in love with me and turned me into a vampire so I'd have to marry him and not my fiancée. In other words, if it wasn't for Emily, I could have gotten married, lived out my life, and died. But, thanks to her, here I am."

"All right," Grams said finally. "We'll help you with the spell. But if anyone gets hurt, so will you. I'll make sure of it."

* * *

Back at the boarding house, Mitch was still upset over Selina's unsettling behavior. "What can I do to get Selina to like me again?" he asked Stefan.

"I don't know, Mitch. Things like this take time. I don't think there's anything we could do that would just make her magically go from hating you to liking you in a short amount of time."

"We could tell her that we'll help her look for the grimoire," Damon said as he came into the living room. "That ought to cheer her up real quick."

"I told you, it's not a good idea to mess with that," Mitch said through his teeth.

"Why not?" Damon asked. "What are you so afraid of, anyway?"

"Nothing in particular," Mitch said. "I just think that there was a reason why those vampires got sealed in the tomb. Probably because the townspeople thought that they would do harm. And what if they do? Selina will probably be the first one they go for."

"Actually, I don't think that's a bad idea," Stefan said, looking at his brother. "If we tell her we're going to help her that _will_ get her in a better mood. And if the five of us are looking in different places and _we_, meaning you, me, Damon and Elena, find it first, we can keep the book away from her, and then she won't be able to open the tomb."

"You want us to _lie_ to Selina," Mitch said.

"It doesn't matter," Stefan replied. "It's for her own good."


	19. A Step Forward

"So," Damon said, "the big issue right now is keeping the grimoire away from Selina so she doesn't do anything stupid with it. But first we have to find it. How are we on that front?"

"Good," Stefan said. "Elena told me that her father's ancestor kept a journal, and that there might be something about the grimoire in there. And then of course, I can always check Father's. He wrote as religiously as anyone else. And about everything. I don't think it'll be difficult to find what we need."

"All right," Mitch said. "Are you planning to go over to Elena's today then, Stefan?"

Stefan nodded. "Yep. Elena told me that she'd have everything out when I got there and we'd devote the rest of the day to the search for the grimoire."

Mitch thought a moment. "And are we absolutely certain that we can keep Selina from finding the grimoire? I mean, she seemed to want it pretty badly, and she _did_ say that there was nothing any of us could do to stop her from getting to it. Maybe the best plan would be to keep her away from the search entirely. You know, assure her that we'll do all the looking."

"I don't think she'll fall for that," Stefan said. "Unless…" he looked at Damon. "Do you think that you could distract Selina until Elena, Mitch and I find out where the grimoire is?"

"Of course I could, but does that mean we're changing plans now?" Damon asked. "We're going from 'tell Selina we're helping her find the grimoire' to 'Selina, we'll help you find the grimoire, but you don't get to help us with the search'? I hate to break it to you, but that's going to bring up more red flags for her then the original plan. She's not stupid, Stefan. She's going to figure out we're tricking her."

"That's where you distracting her comes in handy. Come up with something that'll take her out of Mystic Falls. Like another road trip. That way, the two of you will have fun, and by the time you get back, she'll be so mellow that even if she _does_ find out, she's not going to care."

"Stefan," Mitch said, "I'm getting nervous about this plan of yours. So nervous in fact, that I don't want to be such a big part of it anymore. I mean, I'll still help look and everything, but I just know she's going to find out somehow, and when she does, she'll probably hate all of us. I don't want her to hate me anymore than she already does."

Stefan sighed, "All right, Mitch. You can stay out of it. But we're still going to look, all right?"

"Fine," Mitch said. "But it's your funeral."

Just then, the front door opened, and Selina entered the room, looking at all of them. She was wearing a short jean skirt with pink stitching, a hot pink blouse with puffy sleeves, and light pink flats. "What were you guys talking about?"

The three of them looked at one another. "Nothing," Mitch said.

"Nothing, except the fact that we've decided to help you look for Emily's grimoire," Damon said.

Selina's eyes lit up. "Really? You will? Oh, that's so great, thanks a lot!" She grinned and hugged each of them in turn. "It means a lot to me. When do we start?"

"I'm going over to Elena's house today," Stefan said. "She told me she found something that might be useful in one of her ancestor's journals, and I'm going to bring over my father's as well."

"Sounds good!" Selina was still grinning. "I'll go over Mama's with a fine tooth comb!"

"Honey," Mitch said.

"What?" Selina's face went still.

"Your Mama's journal is still back at the house. I'll run over and get it."

"Oh," Selina brightened again. "All right. I'll be in my room when you get it. Just go right ahead and bring it on up!" she hugged him, then took the stairs two at a time, and once she was gone, they just looked at one another.

"Is anyone starting to feel a little guilty?" Mitch asked. "I mean look at her; she's so happy because she thinks we're going to help her when what we're really doing is lying to her and crushing her dreams."

"Maybe it's good you're not helping us with the big plan then," Damon said, putting his hand on Mitch's shoulder.

Mitch nodded. "I think you're right. I should probably prepare myself for the inevitable; her finding out, getting angry and needing somebody to vent to."

* * *

Selina looked up at the knock on her door. "Come in," she called.

When Damon entered, she felt herself smile. "Did you find anything good?" she asked.

"Actually," Damon said, pulling up another chair and sitting beside her, "since Stefan and Elena seem to have the majority of pertinent material in their possession, I decided to devote myself to something else."

"What?" Selina asked, intrigued.

"Well," Damon answered slowly, "I have an idea that you might be a little resistant to because of wanting to unlock the tomb and all, but I've been thinking. You've been through a lot these last few weeks, what with finding out your father is still around, and that Dr. Stensrund was a good guy—"

"That I saw my father every year of my life until I was fourteen but don't remember it at all because he and Dr. Stensrund erased my memories so I wouldn't give something away to my mother."

"Exactly," Damon said. "And that's a lot to deal with. I think you need a break."

"A break?" Selina said. "No, I can't take a break right now. We have too much to do."

"Come on," Damon said. "Let's have a little fun. I have a nice trip lined up. If you miss it, you'll be really sorry."

"Well-"

"_Please?"_ Damon said. "We'll be able to look for clues while we're out and about."

"I thought you said that Stefan and Elena had all the pertinent materials," she said.

"No," Damon said, "I said, I think they have _the majority_ of pertinent materials. There is a difference between all and the majority."

"Where would we be going?" Selina asked.

"Charleston," Damon said.

"Why?" Selina asked. "What are we doing there?" She paused a moment. "Will there be alcohol and is this outing going to end up being clothing optional?"

Damon grinned to himself before he answered. "Yes, there _will_ be alcohol, and if things go well, then it probably will end up being clothing optional. And as to where we're going, it's a surprise."

Selina laughed a little. "It's always a surprise. Is that code for 'we're going to see another one of my exes'?"

Damon shook his head. "Not this time, no."

"All right," Selina said. "I suppose if we're doing research along the way, a little road trip wouldn't hurt."

"All right," Damon smiled and got up to leave, but he turned with his hand on the doorframe. "How long will it take you to pack?"

"Ten minutes, I think," Selina said.

"All right," and with that, he headed back downstairs.

* * *

"I got her," Damon said as soon as he hit the bottom step. "How long do you think we're going to need to be gone?"

Stefan thought a moment. "Until late tomorrow, at the very least," he said. "Will you be able to keep her away that long?"

Damon grinned. "Of course. We're leaving for Charleston in ten minutes."

"Charleston?" Mitch asked. "Why Charleston?"

"Well," Damon said, "Whenever Selina is talking to other people about herself, you know, the self she made up, she tells them that she's from Charleston, so I thought we'd go there and see the sights."

"It's not because she knows anyone there?"

"No," Damon said. "Who would she know in Charleston?"

"Well, my brother lived there after he became rich because of the steel mills. He thought it would appease Father if he moved back south."

"So your brother's still alive somehow?" Damon asked. "Did he get turned too?"

"No, no!" Mitch said quickly. "I've seen his grave. He lived a good long life. I just thought that maybe Selina had looked up his descendants or something and wanted to visit them."

"He doesn't actually have any descendents," Stefan said. "He had three kids, but none of them lived past infancy."

"Poor Andrew," Mitch said after awhile.

Damon looked up as he heard Selina coming down the stairs, bag in hand. "I'm ready to go," she told him.

"I'll go start the car," he said.

"And I'm going to leave for Elena's now," Stefan added.

They left and Selina found herself alone with Mitch. For a little while, she wasn't sure what to say. Then, it finally came to her. "Thank you for helping me with this," she said, sitting down next to him. "I know how against it you were."

"Sure," he said. "I mean, I know what it's like to want something so badly and then be denied it. I felt horrible after I was turned and then Dr. Stensrund told me that I couldn't go back home to you and your mother because the army had already told her I was dead. There was no closure for me. That's what this is all about, isn't it? Closure?"

"Yeah, it is," Selina nodded, surprised at how perceptive he was. "When the tomb finally gets opened and I get to be face-to-face with Katherine, I'll probably feel like you did the first time Mama brought me to Dr. Stensrund's and you saw me again."

"Yeah," Mitch smiled. "I said it before and I'll say it again: That was a really good day for me."

"All right, Damon said, coming back in. "Car's all ready to go."

"Coming," Selina told him.

He nodded and headed out the door. Selina followed, but turned to face Mitch before she was out the door entirely. "I really can't say this enough: thanks a lot, Matthew."

And then she was gone, leaving her father alone to ponder what she'd just called him. Before, she'd always called him Mitch, which of course was his made-up identity. Now she'd called him Matthew, which was his real name. Maybe soon, she'd get comfortable enough to start calling him 'Dad.' He hoped so. That would be a _really good day._

A/n- Breakthrough, yay! From now on, Mitch will be referred to by his real name, Matthew, by all characters. And next chapter: Selina/ Damon road trip numero dos! Alcohol and sugar-induced hi-jinks by Selina included.


	20. The Misfortune

"So where are we going if we aren't seeing an ex of yours?" Selina asked as the car started. She knew she'd already asked that, but wanted to try again in case Damon actually felt like telling her this time.

He took one hand off the steering wheel and put it around her shoulders. "Sorry sweetheart. The answer is still the same as when you asked me last time. _It's a surprise._ You'll find out when we get there. However, I'm touched by your enthusiasm."

Sighing huffily, Selina nudged his arm off her shoulder.

"What's that for?" he asked. "It's not like I'm taking you anywhere bad."

Selina shifted. "Can you at least tell me what city we're going to?"

"Fine," Damon said. "We're going to Charleston."

Selina's eyes lit up. "Charleston? That's where Uncle Andrew used to live!" she paused and frowned again. "We won't be able to do any research there. Uncle Andrew didn't have anything to do with the whole Emily-Grimoire situation."

"I know," Damon said. "That's not why we're going there."

Selina thought a moment. "My God!" she burst out finally. "Uncle Andrew is alive too, isn't he? This is going to be fun adjusting to. I'm barely used to having Matthew around."

"No," Damon shook his head. "I thought that at first too. When I announced that we were going to Charleston, Matthew was convinced it was because you'd found some of Andrew's descendants and were going to look them up or something. He also said that Andrew lived a good long life and that he'd seen Andrew's gravestone."

Selina took a deep breath. "Damon, I know this is supposed to be a fun road trip and all, but when we get to the city, could we maybe stop by the cemetery first? I want to see Uncle Andrew too."

Damon nodded. "Okay. But we're not going to stay too long. I don't want to spoil the mood."

Andrew's grave wasn't hard to find. Apparently, he'd been quite the philanthropist in his time and had a library, college, and museum named after him. He had a crypt to himself in the local cemetery and the caretaker was more then happy to show Selina and Damon the way to it.

"Wow," Selina said after awhile. "Would you look at it? I just hope he's in heaven lording all his success over my grandfather. Apparently, grandfather was convinced that neither of his sons would be successful unless they stayed with the law practice. And look at how much Uncle Andrew accomplished. No wonder Matthew's proud of him." She stepped away from the crypt to sit on a bench and Damon followed, sitting beside her.

"Selina," he asked after a moment, "why is it that you can call your mother 'Mama' and your uncle 'Uncle Andrew', but you can't call Matthew 'Dad' yet?"

"Well," Selina replied after thinking it over, "I guess it's because I don't know Matthew well enough. I mean, I grew up with both Mama and Uncle Andrew in my life. I used intimate names for them in daily speech. But 'Dad' or 'Papa' wasn't a word I ever used in my life. Katherine's father was always Mr. Pierce and I always referred to your father formally as well, so it's strange to start using it now. Plus, it's kind of strange in any case, even though I know he's my father."

"Why is it strange?"

"Think about it!" Selina said, laughing. "On the surface, I'm eighteen. He was only twenty-two when I was born. Wouldn't you feel weird calling someone Mother or Father if they only looked four years older than you?"

Damon nodded. "You have a point there."

"Not to beat a dead horse," Selina continued, "but if he wouldn't have erased my memories of his visits when I was a little girl, I think I would be perfectly comfortable calling him Dad now. But because I have no memory of it, and all because of him, I just find it weird."

"Again with that argument," Damon said. "Do you really want to keep being mad at him for that? Don't you think it's about time you let it go? He's clearly very sorry that it happened, so why not just forgive him? It'd be a lot better for you."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Selina answered, looking at him meaningfully. "It takes a lot of energy to hate a parent when you really have no reason to, doesn't it?"

"Hey," Damon said. "This is about you, not me. I'd rather we didn't make it about me, as a matter of fact."

"What went on with you and your father?" Selina asked. "What'd you do to make him so upset?"

"Well," Damon said after awhile, "I left the army. That's what made him angry. It wasn't long after I shipped out. I missed you, and realized I was probably going to be killed and you'd be left all alone. You'd already lost one man in your life to war and I didn't want you to lose another."

"Oh, my God," Selina said. "That's so sweet. Thank you."

He nodded. "You're welcome. When I came back, I told Stefan the real reason I left. I never told my father. So he thought that I was a cowardly deserter."

"Matthew wanted to leave once he got into camp too," Selina said. "He wrote to Grandfather to get him out with an honorable discharge, but Grandfather wouldn't let him leave. So you aren't the only man I've made consider deserting the army."

Damon gave her a small smile and stood up. "So, do you want to find out where we're going now?" he asked. "Or do you want to stick around some more?"

"Nope," Selina said, giving him her hand. "I'm good, let's go!" he pulled her up and the two of them headed for the car and got on the road again.

* * *

Stefan parked the car in the street and walked slowly up the driveway to Elena's house. When he reached the door, he knocked and then waited. When it finally opened, he was glad to see Elena on the other side. He'd made up a long, detailed explanation in the car to give to Jenna if she was the one to answer, but now it was unnecessary and he was glad.

"Hi," Elena said, holding out what Stefan presumed was her ancestor's journal. "You wanna come in? I got the journal as you can see, but I had a tough time. Jeremy had given it to somebody and I had to track them down to get it back."

Stefan stepped inside. The living room was empty. It seemed as if there were no people in the house but him and Elena. "Are we alone?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Jenna had to run to the grocery store and Jeremy's out doing something with somebody. It's hard to keep track of him. Is that a problem?"

Stefan blinked and shook his head. "No, of course not."

Elena sat down on the couch and placed the journal on the coffee table. Stefan sat down next to her and placed his father's journal beside hers. "Do you really think what we need will be in either of these?" Elena asked, eyeing them doubtfully. "And do you think Selina suspects what we're up to? Do you think she'll be angry if she finds out?"

"No," Stefan answered. "You saw how happy she was when she left. And she and Damon are on a road trip. It'll bring them together. It's a good thing. There's no way she'll be angry."

"Okay, if you say so." Elena picked up her journal, and began to leaf through it. After a moment, Stefan did the same. But all the while, they wondered what Selina and Damon were really up to.

* * *

"_A carnival_?" Selina asked in surprise. "_You brought me to a carnival?"_

"Yeah," Damon said. "They have everything: rigged games, junk food," he directed her attention to a stand near the entrance "dollar-a-glass strawberry daiquiris."

"Oh, my God! They have strawberry daiquiris? I haven't had one of those in years. I think I'll go get one." Selina grinned and took off for the stand with a ten from Damon in her pocket. She'd just break it now, but as God was her witness, there would be no change by the end of the day. She bought the first one and drank it slowly. "What are we going to do first?" she asked Damon.

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe we should start with some rides before you've passed the point of no return and can't enjoy them anymore."

"Good idea." Selina gulped down the rest of her drink and threw the cup in the trash. As she backed away, a small wave of dizziness hit her and she swayed a little.

Damon caught her from behind before she could hit the ground. "Don't you know you aren't supposed to chug it like that?" he asked in mock reproof. "It goes straight for your brain if you do."

"I know," she said. "But I didn't want to carry around a glass on the rides."

After some debate about what ride to go on first, they decided to start with an old classic: the tunnel of love.

"I can't believe they still have one of these," Selina said as the plastic swan drifted toward the tunnel. "I thought they all went out of fashion once the world stopped being run by bluenoses, wet blankets and fire extinguishers. This ride in particular was made created as a socially acceptable excuse for couples to make out."

"Well, that's not surprising," Damon remarked. "You put two people together in a boat and stick them in the dark, what else are they going to do?" while he talked, he slowly brought his arm up around Selina's shoulder. This time, she was more receptive.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "I was getting a little chilly." They sat in silence for a moment. Then Selina tilted her head up and their lips met. The kiss lasted for quite awhile and by the time they'd pulled themselves apart, they were beginning to see light.

"Oh, look," Selina remarked. "The light at the end of the tunnel."

"At least we got our money's worth," Damon added.

As soon as the ride stopped, they disembarked and Selina headed back to the daiquiri stand. She got another drink and some cotton candy along with it.

When he saw what she'd bought, Damon winced a little. "How could you buy that?" he asked.

"_What?_" Selina said. "You were the one who pointed out the daiquiri stand in the first place."

"No," Damon said. "I meant the cotton candy. It's nothing but pure sugar. Doesn't it make you sick?"

"No. And I know it's pure sugar," Selina told him. "That's why I like it." She was taking large handfuls from the bag and scarfing them down in a manner that would have made her mother faint. Once the bag was empty, she went to the funnel cake stand and ate what she got there just as quickly. After the second daiquiri was done, she was hopping up and down.

"Can we go on a rollercoaster now?" Selina asked. "Let's go on a rollercoaster. I love rollercoasters!"

"All right, we'll go on a rollercoaster. Which one?"

"That one!" She pointed at one that had two loops and a particularly steep drop.

"All right," Damon said, eyeing it doubtfully. "If you want to. Personally, I would have picked a different one."

"Why?" Selina asked. "Are you _scared _of that one?"

"No," Damon bristled. "I'm not scared. It's just that you ate a lot of stuff and I don't want you getting sick all over me. This is a new jacket."

"I think you're scared," Selina countered.

"No, I'm not."

"Prove it," Selina challenged.

"Fine." And he grabbed her by the wrist, hauling her to the front of the line and annoying several people who'd already been waiting. Thankfully, the coaster had separate cars for each person, so he didn't have to worry about his jacket, and he was very impressed when Selina made it through the whole ride without throwing up on any innocent bystanders.

"Wow, I'm impressed." He said as they walked away from the coaster. "I thought that was going to make you sick for sure."

"I had a boyfriend once who loved to take me to amusement parks, so I have a lot of experience in dealing with rollercoasters and food." She pulled her hand away. "I want to get some more cotton candy."

"No way. No more sugar for you. When you're drunk, you're fun. When you're drunk and hyper, not so much."

"Okay," Selina pouted, but she still gave him back her hand and they walked around a little while. They then stopped at the shooting gallery where, despite her best efforts, Damon beat Selina quite handily.

"It figures," she said. "After all, that _is_ the first time I've ever shot a gun."

"I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick," Damon told her. "Are you going to be all right out here by yourself until I get back?"

"Yes," Selina said. "I think I can handle being alone for a few lousy minutes."

But the line was long and by the time he returned to where he'd left her, she was nowhere in sight.

* * *

"I got it I think!" Elena cried triumphantly.

"What?" Stefan said. "Let me see."

He looked it over and nodded. "I think you're right," he said.

"The entry talks about a Giuseppe Salvatore," Elena continued. "Was that your father?"

Stefan nodded. "Yes. And according to this," he held up the journal. "The grimoire is in his grave."

"_In his grave_?" Elena said. "You mean we actually have to go to the cemetery and dig him up?"

Stefan nodded gravely. "If you're up to it, we'll do it tonight."

* * *

Trying to keep calm, Damon approached the info booth. "Hi," he told the bored-looking woman sitting at the desk. "I lost my girlfriend. Have you seen her? She's tiny and has blue eyes and long black hair."

"Is she wearing a lot of pink?" the lady asked.

He nodded.

"You'll find her at the security office. They had to bring her in," the lady told him. "It's not far from here, next to the brick building where they're showing the cakes."

"Thanks," he said. "You've been a big help."

It took a little time, but eventually he managed to find the security office.

"What can I do for you, son?" asked the police officer at the front desk.

"The lady at the information booth told me that my girlfriend was here."

The man leaned forward. "So the tiny, black-haired bearcat belongs to you, huh? We found her trying to bully one of the game managers into giving her a teddy bear when she hadn't even won his game. She punched him in the eye. Has she been drinking today at all?"

"Yes, she has." Damon answered. "But I promise I won't let her have anymore."

The officer led him to the cell where Selina was holding onto the bars and yelling at one of the other officers to let her out.

"Selina!" Damon said. The sound of his voice stopped her midtirade.

"Hi Damon!" she said, suddenly perking up. "What brings you here?"

"I came to bail you out," he said.

"Oh, goody!" Selina let go of the bars and jumped up and down.

Once he'd gotten her free, Damon got Selina as far away from the daiquiri stand as he could. Apparently she'd gotten a third one while waiting for him.

"I leave you alone for a little while and when I come back, you're in jail. Would you care to explain?"

"I told you. I wanted a prize, but the stupid guy that ran the bottle game wouldn't let me have it."

"What was it?" he asked.

"A teddy bear," she replied immediately. "It was pink and fuzzy and said 'I love you' when you squeezed it."

Damon looked her over. "Well, you're currently pink and fuzzy, and I bet if I hugged you right now, you'd say the same thing."

Selina put her arms around him. "I love you," she said. "And thank you for getting me out of that jail. Those officers were really unreasonable."

"No problem," he said. "And don't worry. I won't tell Stefan." It was getting dark. "How about we do one more thing before we head to the hotel?" he suggested.

"All right. What do you want to do?" she asked.

"I think I'll head over to the shooting gallery," he said. "What about you?"

She looked around and spotted a fortune teller tent. "I think I'll go visit the fortune teller. Meet you back here in ten minutes?"

"All right," he said. "But don't try and get any daiquiris afterward. I think you've already had enough today."

As soon as he was gone, Selina headed into the tent.

"Hello, my dear," the fortune teller greeted her. "Have a seat, have a seat. And we'll look into my crystal ball and see what your future holds."

Selina was beginning to feel excited. She'd always wanted to do something like this.

The fortune teller gazed into her smoke-filled ball. After a moment of silence, she looked back up at Selina. "Be careful," she said. "Those you once thought were trustworthy are no longer allies to you. You are being deceived."

"Really?" Selina said.

The fortune teller nodded. "The answer lies in the grave of the father. Go back home and see the lies for yourself."

"Are you sure?" Selina asked.

The fortune teller nodded.

"Thanks," Selina stood up. She left the fortune teller's tent and walked to the shooting gallery to meet Damon, pondering what the fortune teller had said. "Those you thought were trustworthy are no longer allies to you…what does that mean?" she muttered to herself. "The answer lies in the grave of the father…go back home and see the lies for yourself…my god!" she stopped for a moment as the realization hit her, then sprinted the rest of the way.

"I want to go home now," she told Damon curtly when she arrived at the shooting gallery.

"Home?" Damon laughed. "Sweetheart, don't you mean to the hotel?"

"No," Selina shook her head. "I want to go home so I can get to the cemetery."

"Selina," Damon was a little nervous now. "Why would you want to go to the cemetery at home? Haven't you had enough of cemeteries today? Let's just go to the hotel where we can be alone and me and my hands can help you get over whatever is bothering you."

"No." Selina shook her head. "Car. Now."

As soon as they'd been on the road a little bit, Selina continued. "I have a question and I would love an honest answer. Why did we _really_ go on this trip?"

"Because we haven't really spent a lot of time alone and I thought it would be fun."

Selina shook her head. "Wrong answer. The correct answer is that Stefan and Elena are looking for the grimoire and they wanted you to distract me so I wouldn't find it first and 'mess everything up'. Isn't it?"

But Damon didn't answer her. Instead, he drove the rest of the way without saying another word, and then parked at the cemetery gates. Then, he looked her in the eye and said "yes."

She was shaking with rage by now. When she finally reached Guiseppe's grave, she wasted no time in making herself known to Elena and Stefan, who were digging feverishly. "I thought I'd find you here."

Stefan looked up at Selina, then at Damon, who stood behind her. "I thought you said you would keep her away for a good long time," he said.

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Selina said. "You'd just love for me to be out of the way so that you could find this for yourself and not breathe a word of it to me. What were you going to do with it once found it? Rip it apart? Burn it? Anything to save me from myself."

Stefan pulled himself out of the grave and faced her. Elena followed, holding the grimoire. "What we did, we did for your own good, Selina."

"You don't know a god damn thing," Selina said. "It's not nice to lie to people. And don't feed me that 'for your own good' song and dance. You want to know what I think of that?"

And before Stefan had time to move, she threw a punch that got him square in the face and sent him headfirst against his father's headstone, rendering him unconscious.

"Selina!" Elena cried in shock, her grip on the grimoire slackening.

"He was in the way," Selina replied coldly. She then snatched the grimoire out of Elena's hands. Then, she turned to Damon.

"I have to admit you had me fooled," she told him. "All those promises of a good time; that nice kiss we had in the tunnel of love. I thought you meant it, but it was all a lie. I guess I can add this to all the others you told me in my life: I want to be with you forever, Selina; I'm the one man in the world who will love you more then your sister, Selina; you're my reason for living, Selina. Well you know what? I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I just hope this was worth it for you." And with that, she tore off the locket, stomped on it until it was crushed to pieces, then went on her way without another word.


	21. Full Moon Syndrome

Selina strode home in a huff, clutching the grimoire tightly to her chest. She hadn't waited to see if anyone had followed her. She hoped she'd scared them enough that they wouldn't. She opened the front door to the boarding house and found herself face to face with Matthew.

"I was wondering when you'd be back," he told her. When he saw the book in her hands, he looked heavenward and sighed, then gazed back at her. "So you found it, huh? I knew you'd see through Stefan's not-so-clever ruse."

"You knew about this?" she asked.

"Yep," he nodded. "And that's why I didn't want to be any part of it. I knew that you'd figure it out eventually, but Stefan insisted."

"I can't believe he thought lying to me about wanting to help find this thing would be a good idea," she said, collapsing on the couch. Matthew sat next to her and took her hand.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked. He looked her over and paused a moment. "Where's your locket?"

She shrugged. "I broke it. It's really not worth anything to me anymore."

"What do you mean 'it's not really worth anything to you anymore'?" Mitch asked standing up, his voice rising. "You spent 145 years looking for it! How can it not be worth anything to you?"

"Because Damon lied to me!" Selina said, standing up to face him. "If he really cared about me, he wouldn't have done it! He would have told Stefan that that stupid plan of his wasn't a good idea, and that he should trust me!"

"You do realize that all the time you were looking for the necklace before, you were under the impression that Damon had run off with Katherine, right?" Matthew countered. "What's the difference between then and now?"

Selina sat down. Matthew did have a point. She thought a moment. "Well," she said finally, "maybe this was just one lie too many, all right?"

Mitch looked out the window. "It's a full moon tonight. Did you see that?"

Selina looked. "I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"It has something to do with this, just let me keep going," Matthew said. "Did you ever wonder how you got saddled with the name Selina instead of something normal like Susan, Margaret, or Elizabeth?"

Selina nodded. "Sometimes, yes."

"Well, you were born on Halloween of course, and by the time your mother delivered, it was late at night and the moon had risen. I wanted to keep the curtains closed so that the night air wouldn't have a bad effect on your mother, but she insisted on the curtains staying open because the moon was bright and she wanted to look at it. This wasn't anything new to me, so I agreed. She was always fascinated by the moon. And after you were born, she told me she wanted to name you Selina, and even though I wanted to name you Elizabeth, after my mother, I agreed to your mother's request, since she was the one who'd been in labor for ten hours."

"So Mama wanted to name me Selina? Why?"

"Well," Matthew thought a moment. "I asked her afterwards, and apparently, Selene was the name of the moon in Roman mythology. She was the moon and the goddess of the moon. And then your mother let me pick your middle names."

"That's how Mama used to tell that story," Selina said. She looked down at the grimoire that she held in her lap. "Let me run this upstairs, and then we can continue this discussion," she said.

Matthew nodded, but instead of waiting for her to come back, he followed her up to her room. Once they were both inside, he shut the door and locked it.

"What'd you lock the door for?" Selina asked. "I thought we were going back downstairs."

"No, actually we aren't. I think it would be best if we stayed up here for awhile," Matthew told her.

Selina frowned. "You're trying to stop me too? You're as bad as Stefan! Why didn't you just go to the grave and dig up this book like everybody else?"

"No," Matthew said patiently. "This isn't about the book. This is about something else. The moon is what's making you act this way. You were fine this morning, and all of today, I assume. Then, night time hits and you get really angry. We'll keep you inside tonight, and then tomorrow, when your head is clear, we'll discuss this and I'll let you out."

"Are you serious?" Selina asked, laughing derisively. "The moon is making me insane. That's the dumbest theory in the world. The reason why I'm so angry, if I haven't made it clear to you already, is that two of the people I love most in the whole world _lied_ to me, even though they had absolutely no reason to. The idea that the full moon causes people to have weird mood swings and go into fits of insanity is just a myth."

"Yeah, sure." Mitch smirked. "That means a lot coming from a vampire."

"All right," Selina began to pace. "Let's assume for a moment that this theory of yours is correct. Why would it be true?"

"Haven't you ever noticed a change in your temperament during a full moon?" he asked.

Selina thought a moment. With a start, she realized that he was right. She _did _tend to be moodier during full moons. She gasped. After she had killed Dr. Stensrund, she'd looked out the window and seen the full moon dominating the dark sky out the open window. And her first night as a vampire, that had been a full moon too. "But what does it mean?" she asked her father finally. "Why am I affected by it so much?"

Matthew shrugged. "I really don't know. Your mother was always unpredictable during full moons. Sometimes she'd be really happy; sometimes really angry. Once, she locked herself in her room at moonrise and cried until the sun came up. Then, once it was light out, she came down to breakfast, acting as if nothing had happened the night before; I always thought it was a bit strange, but I learned to live with it. As long as I left her alone and let her handle things during her episodes, everything worked out."

"So Mama had a disease and passed it on to me?" Selina asked. "That's real nice of her."

"I wouldn't call it a disease," Matthew countered. "I'd call it a quirk. A very odd quirk."

"With her, it was a quirk, but with me, it's probably something worse. At least Mama probably never injured or killed anyone during her episodes."

"_What?_" Matthew asked.

"When Dr. Stensrund was killed, that was during a full moon. And there are other things…"

At that moment, a voice sounded from downstairs. "Matthew! Are you here? Selina's gone missing! And she's got the grimoire!"

Mitch approached Selina's bedroom door and opened it slowly. "I'm here, Damon," he called back. "And Selina isn't missing. She's up here with me."

There was the sound of somebody coming up the stairs. "Can we come in?" Elena asked, peeking through the crack in the door.

"Sure." Matthew opened the door the rest of the way while Selina turned away and looked out the window. When Matthew Stefan's unconscious form, he turned incredulously to his daughter. "Is this what you meant by 'other things'?" he asked. "Selina Amelia Elizabeth, what happened to him? What the hell did you do?"

Damon and Elena lay Stefan on the bed as Selina turned from the window to look at them all. "I just hit him," she said. "It was the contact with his father's gravestone that knocked him out."

"Is he going to be okay?" Matthew asked as he frowned at Selina.

"I hope so," Elena said. She took Stefan's hand and held on to it.

"And I assume you know about what else happened?" Damon asked Matthew.

"Yeah," Matthew nodded. "She told me. If you want to talk about it, we can go down to the living room."

Damon nodded.

"Selina, come downstairs with us," Matthew ordered.

"No," Selina shook her head. "I don't want to. I have nothing to say. Besides, you said that I had to stay up here until tomorrow."

"Well now I'm saying you don't have to. _Come on_."

"Fine," Selina said. "But it's not going to do any good."

They left Elena and Stefan in Selina's bedroom, and headed downstairs. After they took seats on either side of the fireplace, Matthew began to talk. "What happened tonight?" he asked Damon.

"We had a good day," he said. "I took her to a carnival in Charleston and we did rides, she ate lots of sugar and got really drunk. It was fun." He smiled as Matthew gave his daughter a look. "Then it got dark and we decided to do one more thing each before leaving. I headed over to the shooting gallery, and she went and saw the fortune teller. It was after she got through with that that she wanted to come back here. She was really angry too."

Matthew looked at Selina. "Is that what happened?" he asked.

Selina nodded. "It was the fortune teller who told me about Stefan and Elena looking for the grimoire at the cemetery," she said.

"Well that's oddly specific for a carnival fortune teller," Matthew said. "What did she look like?"

Selina tried to remember. "She was tiny, with black hair and dark eyes. And she had a blue, beaded bag."

Mitch frowned. "Did she also happen to have a small scar on her right cheek? Did you notice that?"

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "Why?"

Mitch shook his head. "Nothing, never mind. If you see her again, let me know." He looked at Selina. "You said the reason why you crushed the locket was because it was worthless to you now. What's really making you angry?"

"Besides the full moon?" Selina grinned slightly. "I don't know. I guess I just feel like nobody trusts me. They hear that I want the grimoire, and immediately, it's 'let's keep it away from her; she'll probably do something bad with it, or mess up the spell and leave the town in ruins'."

"Well, that could happen," Matthew told her. "You're dealing with very complex magic, and I think I'm safe in assuming that you've never done anything like this before."

Selina shook her head. "For God's sake, I'm not stupid. I'm not going to be the one who'll perform the spell. I got actual witches who know what they're doing to do it for me. If I tried to do it on my own, then something bad probably _would_ be unleashed on the town."

"So you aren't going to be the one who does the spell to open the tomb?" Matthew asked.

"No! Duh! I just said that!" Selina almost shouted in exasperation. "I got a hold of some witches who owe me a favor. They said they'd do it."

"So that's why you crushed the locket? Because no one trusts you?" Matthew said slowly.

Selina shook her head. "I don't really know _why_ I did it, okay? Maybe it was because I was angry and that's what I thought would cause the most hurt. And based on what you told me about Mama, I bet I'll wake up tomorrow and feel really bad about it, but right now, I just don't feel anything." She paused. "I just realized that I haven't fed today."

Matthew looked at her. "Someone should probably come with you. We'll go to the woods."

Selina shook her head. "Not the woods, good God, not the woods."

"Yes," Matthew said firmly. "I don't want you going near people until you're back to being your old self again and have a sense of control back."

Selina let out a growl. "Fine."

She headed out the door and Matthew followed.

Damon was left alone in the living room. He sat in silence for a moment before Elena came downstairs and sat next to him. "Are you all right?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. She seems less homicidal now, but I'm worried that I screwed things up for good this time."

"If she can forgive you for Katherine," Elena told him, "I think you'll be all right. I really do."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Matthew asked Selina as she sat down on a log.

"I'm feeling intense anger right now," Selina replied. "I don't like the woods. They bring back bad memories."

"Well, you can go back to eating as you like tomorrow," Matthew replied. He gazed around and inhaled deeply. "Try and focus on the good things," he told her. "You're experiencing something a little different."

"Are you done?" Selina snapped. "I want to eat."

Matthew just shook his head, but he stopped talking. Suddenly, he heard a noise. "Here comes something for you," he said encouragingly. "I think it's a rabbit."

"Oh, joy," Selina said flatly. "Thumper. My favorite." But since she wanted to get out of the woods as soon as possible, she humored her father and went after it. The rabbit was followed by two deer. And after she had taken blood from the second one, Matthew proclaimed that she'd had enough and that it was time for them to head back.

"How do you know I've had enough?" Selina asked indignantly.

"I just do. Tomorrow, you can make up for it, but for right now, the most important thing is to get you through to sun-up without any more bad things happening."

"Fine."

Selina followed Matthew back to the boarding house and sat back in her chair, looking sullen. Elena had left the room to check on Stefan and Damon was once again alone.

"Did you get anything good?" he asked cautiously.

"No," she shook her head. "Matthew made me eat Thumper and two Bambis."

Damon's eyebrows went up. "Really?" He looked at Matthew with admiration. "You are a brave man," he remarked.

"I told her she could make up for lost time tomorrow. Maybe you could take her out and make a date of it," Matthew replied.

"I'd be willing," Damon said. "We'll see how things are in the morning."

"I think I'll go upstairs and continue my father-imposed confinement," Selina said standing up. "I have a book I've wanted to start for ages."

As soon as she was gone, Damon looked at Matthew. "Do you think we'll be okay?" he asked.

Matthew nodded. "I think so. Her mother had temperament issues during the full moon and Selina does too, apparently." He smiled. "Take it from someone who knows; just leave it alone for the night, and remember that things always look better in the morning."


	22. Beaten to the Punch

Selina had fallen asleep seated at her desk with the book she'd been reading underneath her cheek. She groaned as she sat up, yawning and rubbing the crick in her neck. "God," she whispered to herself, "what a night." She stood up and began to pace around her room, shaking out the muscles in her arms and legs, looking as if she were doing the hokey pokey. When she'd gotten through all her limbs, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called.

The door opened and Matthew strode in the room. "Good morning," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Selina sat down and thought a moment. "Fine, I guess. A little stiff, but fine."

Matthew nodded. "I thought as much. Do you want to come downstairs and do damage control now, or do you want to wait a little while?"

Selina's eyes widened "Damage control?"

"Yeah," Matthew nodded. "Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

Selina lay back on her pillow and shut her eyes. "It's a little fuzzy."

"Well," Matthew supplied, "for one thing, Stefan's downstairs unconscious."

"Why?" Selina asked. "How did it happen?"

"Well," he said hesitantly, "you're kind of responsible. You and Damon got back early from Charleston and found Stefan and Elena in the cemetery with the grimoire. They wanted to keep it away from you because they thought you would unleash hell on the town. And when they wouldn't let you have the grimoire, you punched Stefan and knocked him out."

"I couldn't. I wouldn't." Selina was shaking her head.

"Actually, you did. It was a very good punch. I was impressed." Selina and Matthew both turned to see Damon standing at the doorway with his hand on the frame.

"You were?" Selina asked. "I bet. Any time something bad gets done to your brother, you want to break out the bubbly." Damon smirked and she continued. "Did I do anything else I might regret last night besides knocking Stefan out cold?"

Matthew and Damon looked at one another for a moment, before Matthew said quietly, "Selina, look down and see if anything's missing."

"Why?" Selina asked. "What could possibly be miss---oh God, where's my necklace?!" she gasped.

"You stomped it into the dirt," Damon said. "Apparently, it wasn't worth anything to you anymore because I'm a no good liar."

Selina's eyes widened. "Did I say that?" She looked at her father. "Why would I say that? It's not true! I mean if I can forgive him for Katherine, everything else is gravy." She put her arms around Matthew's neck. "I didn't mean to say anything I said," she sniffled.

"I know," he hugged her back. "But sadly, we can't change what's happened. We just have to move on."

Selina nodded and looked up at Damon. "I don't know why I said those things, but I didn't mean them. I was just angry. People say a lot of things they don't mean when they're angry. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Damon just stared back willfully for a moment. But then he realized that if he didn't forgive her, he'd look like an awful hypocrite. She had, after all, forgiven him for Katherine, which was a much bigger issue. "All right," he said finally. "I forgive you."

"It's good we got this all sorted out," Matthew said. "Let's go downstairs and see how Stefan's doing."

Selina and Damon both nodded and the three of them walked downstairs one right after the other.

When they arrived downstairs, they found Elena on the couch, holding Stefan's head in her lap. "Did you leave at all last night?" Selina asked.

"Yes," Elena nodded. "Just after you went upstairs for the night. But now I'm back because Stefan isn't doing his best and I want to be around until he gets better."

Selina nodded, perching herself carefully on the one bit of couch cushion that wasn't already occupied. "I'm really sorry about yesterday," she said.

Elena nodded. "Matthew told us about your mother and how she was during full moons. And he did say that she was better afterwards, like you seem to be."

"Yeah, I am." Selina nodded. "Much."

"So is the plan with the grimoire halted now that you're in a more rational frame of mind?" Elena asked hopefully.

"No," Selina shook her head. "I'm still bringing Katherine back. But the spells are going to be done by professionals and so it should be easy to get her here, take my vengeance and get rid of her."

At that moment, Stefan stirred. "No," he said weakly. "No." His eyes opened and he slowly sat up. "Don't, Selina. You're going to be sorry if you do."

"Are you psychic now?" Selina asked. "Nothing bad is going to happen to anybody, I swear."

Just then, the phone rang. Selina got up to answer it, and the voice on the other end cheered her up immensely. "Hi Bonnie!" she said brightly. "What? Your grandmother says she wants to go ahead and do the project tonight? That's perfect. Seven? I'll be there. See you then. Bye."

After Selina hung up the phone, she noticed that the others were all staring at her. "What?" she asked. "I suppose you all want to come too?"

"Sure," Matthew said. The other three nodded as well. There was no doubt in their minds that she'd need them later.

* * *

Since it was still several hours until seven, Selina decided to occupy herself by doing errands out around town. But first, she stopped off at the Grill for some people-watching. She ordered a coke and sat down at a barstool, sipping it leisurely. She'd just about finished it when she heard the voice at her elbow.

"Well, well, well. What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Selina put the glass down and sighed. "What do you want, Tyler?"

Instead of looking perturbed, he just grinned easily and sat down on the bar stool next to her. "I just wanted to say hi. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"No, I guess not."

"And," he continued, "I wanted to know if you were all right. I don't see that you're wearing the necklace that your fiancé got you. Am I correct in assuming that all is not copacetic?"

Selina frowned. "We had a little upset, but we're working things out."

Tyler frowned, but then smiled instantly. "Well, you know, if things don't work out between the two of you, I found somebody who I think would be just perfect."

Selina frowned. "You've been looking up dates for me?" she asked incredulously. "Well, I thank you for your concern, but everything is going to be all right. All relationships have bumps in them. So you can just tell whoever it was that you found thanks, but no thanks."

Tyler hopped off the barstool and put his arm around her shoulders. "It's nice to see you feeling so strong. But he's come such a long way. And he's waited so long to see you again. Five minutes with him won't hurt you, will it?"

"I'm not going to see him, Tyler. And that's it. I'm perfectly happy with the way things are in my life and I don't want to change a thing." She slammed her glass down on the counter and left, leaving a generous tip.

Tyler watched her as she went. "She'll be back," he said confidently. "She'll be back."

* * *

Elena was standing on the front steps of the boarding house when Selina got back. "You okay?" she asked when she noticed the look on Selina's face.

"Yeah, I'm all right." Selina said. "When I was at the Grill, I ran into Tyler. He's apparently found a guy for me."

"Found a guy for you?" Elena repeated. "What do you think that means?"

Selina sat down. "He saw that I wasn't wearing the necklace and I guess he assumed that Damon and I got into another fight. And because we're family and he doesn't want to see me 'suffer,' he took it upon himself to find another man for me."

"But you and Damon are going to be all right!" Elena said incredulously. "Every relationship has bumps in it! What's Tyler got against Damon anyway?" She paused, Damon's talk about Selina's cousin Michael coming back to her. "Selina," she asked, "how did your Lockwood relatives feel about you and Damon being engaged?"

Selina thought a moment. "The only one who was really against it was Michael," she said finally. "When he heard, he started acting a lot like Tyler is now, throwing out other options and even suggesting that I come live with them and not marry at all. I will never forget the look on his face when his father told him he was being foolish and that being married would be the best thing for me."

"And he thought Damon was a good match?"

"Yeah, he did. I mean, he never said anything against him."

Elena thought that over a moment. "Who do you think Tyler found?"

"Someone I've known before, obviously, because he said it's been such a long time since he's seen me. But I can't think of anyone off the top of my head."

"Well, whoever he is, he's probably a vampire. If he wasn't, he wouldn't still be attractive enough to date you now _and_ still have known you a long time ago." Elena shivered. "I'm a little chilly. Do you want to go inside?"

Selina nodded and they headed inside. It was starting to get dark. They spent the remaining hours engaged in a marathon monopoly game, and then at 6:45 left to meet Bonnie and Grams.

And when they arrived, they got some very interesting news.

"Somebody's already been here," Bonnie informed them. "Grams and I were setting up all the ingredients to open the seal, but we saw that somebody's already opened it."

"What?" Selina asked, eyes wide. "What do you mean somebody's already opened the tomb? It's weird, I admit, but it saves us a lot of work." She started to head toward the opening, but turned when she realized no one was following her. "Doesn't anyone want to come with me and savor the moment?" she asked.

"No," Matthew said. "We'll stay out here and share the joy with you when you get back."

"All right." Selina shrugged and headed into the tomb on her own. It was dark and creepy, and lined wall to wall with vampire corpses. One seemed to be missing, however, and after what seemed like hours of looking, Selina was forced to conclude that none of the bodies belonged to her sister. She looked over the bodies one last time and strode out.

"How'd it go?" Matthew asked when he saw her.

"She's not down there," Selina said. "She and Emily probably used some dark magic to get her out." She paused at the looks on their faces. "Why aren't you looking at me?" she asked them. "Why doesn't any of this surprise you?"

Elena, Stefan and Damon sat around her, then looked to Matthew to deliver the bad news. "Katherine was never down there," he said finally. "I saw her awhile back, in Chicago, 1983."

"What?!" Selina exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me this before? You just let me make an idiot of myself."

"Sweetie, would you have believed us if we _would _have told you earlier?"

Selina looked at Matthew. "I guess you have a point."

"Are you going to be okay?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I just wan to go home," she said, letting Damon half-carry her back to his car. As they drove away, two figures stepped out from the bushes.

"My God, it _is _her," one of them whispered. "She's as beautiful as I remember."

"See?" said the other, Tyler. "I told you she was here."

"How long until I get to talk to her?"

"You wait just one more day and then you'll get to see her all you want."

"And what about the others?"

"Don't you worry about a thing," Tyler reassured his companion. "Just leave the details to me."


	23. The Visitor

Selina was in the boarding houses' music room, playing songs on a dusty old piano. It was out of tune and hadn't been played for years, but that was all right with her. She hadn't practiced for years either and no doubt sounded awful. But she didn't care. She was full of feelings and needed to get them out somehow.

She'd come straight here once they'd gotten back from the crypt. The others had wanted to talk about it, to comfort her. But she'd just wanted to get away and be alone. They'd known all the time that Katherine wasn't there. Why hadn't they told her? Well, Selina admitted, her father had answered that one: because even if they _had _told her, she probably wouldn't have listened to them, but would it have hurt them to at least try and tell her once?

She paused in her playing, and got off the piano bench to root around for some other music. She found the sheet music in the bench and picked something that was particularly touching to her, something her mother used to play her before she went to bed at night. With the thunder crashing outside, she had to play extra loud to even hear the notes, but she didn't care. Finally, with a loud crash of thunder and lightning, the power went out and Selina was left sitting in the dark, still pounding out tunes on the piano, as if possessed. When the music room door opened, she finally snapped out of her stupor.

"Selina," whispered a voice, "are you all right?" It was Elena. "The power's out downstairs too, and your father send me up here to check on you."

Selina turned. Elena was holding a flashlight and standing in the music room doorway. "Yeah, I'm all right," she whispered finally. "I guess, anyway."

"Why don't you come downstairs?" Elena suggested. "It's kind of unsettling to be alone in weather like this. I'm going to be heading back to my house soon. Jenna doesn't like it when I'm out late in bad weather."

Selina stayed on the bench a moment, then stood up and made her way slowly and carefully over to Elena. "All right," she said. "I'll come downstairs. But I doubt it will do me any good." She let Elena lead her to one of the downstairs living rooms. There was a fire in the fireplace and Matthew, Damon and Stefan were each seated in a high-backed leather chair on either side of it. Selina took the remaining empty seat next to Damon and settled in uneasily.

"You want me to follow behind you and make sure nothing happens to you on your way home?" Matthew asked. "It wouldn't be any trouble."

Elena looked at him and nodded. "Would you? Thanks. I have to go over the bridge to get home and that always makes me nervous, especially in bad weather."

Matthew nodded and followed Elena out the door, leaving Selina alone with Stefan and Damon. After a few minutes of silence, Stefan was the first to speak.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

Selina shook her head. "I really don't want to talk about this right now, okay? I just want some time to process before we start discussing it to death." She paused a moment, then said "I'm tired. I think I'll just go right to bed. If Matthew wants to see me when he get's back, would you tell him that's where I'll be?"

They nodded and she made her way up to her room. Instead of going to sleep, however, she just climbed into bed, tucked herself in, and let the tears run down her cheeks. After about an hour or so, the rain let up and the lights came back on. Selina pulled the covers off herself and stared at the closed door, jumping at a sudden knock.

"Come in," she said unsteadily.

The door opened slowly and Damon walked in. "Feeling any better?" he asked.

Selina sat up. "I guess so," she answered.

He nodded and sat next to her on the bed. "You want to tell me what's wrong?" he asked. "Because I know something is."

"Yeah you do," Selina replied. "Ever since you told me about Katherine being in the tomb and the two of us resurrecting her so that we could pay her back for all she did to us, that's all I've thought about, all right? As far as my sister is concerned, I've always felt like the victim; my father's dead, her father's around. He treated me like I was dirt on his shoe and like she was a damn princess. And don't try and dispute any of that, because you know it's true."

"But why does that still bother you so much? You've changed since then. You're so much more then you were," Damon said.

"And that's exactly the point," Selina said. "I wanted to show Katherine that I'm not the same girl that she used to kick around, and that I won't put up with her crap anymore, and now she's outsmarted me and I don't get to!"

"Come here," Damon said, holding out his arms. She came gratefully and he held on to her. "I want you to listen to me very carefully," he said. "You've always been a worthwhile person, all right? True, you're a lot more fun now, but that's because times are more permissible now then they were 145 years ago. And nothing would make me happier then to see you face Katherine now, because I bet, no I _know_, you would kick her ass from here to kingdom come because that's the kind of person you are. And you'll get the chance. It'll just happen a little later then you'd like. And while that might seem like a drawback now because you really, really, really wanted to show Katherine up, if we want to view her absence from the tomb in a more positive light, we can say that now you get more time to stage a really memorable encounter. Because let's face it; if the new you is the last thing she's going to see, you really want to leave an impression, right?"

Selina shifted slightly and smiled. "You know, you're absolutely right." She pulled away. "Do you think I'm stupid for making such a fuss like this?"

Damon shook his head. "Absolutely not. If I thought I was going to finally get to beat the pulp out of someone I'd hated for years and then was denied the opportunity, I'd be upset too. But you're better now?"

She nodded. "I am."

He smiled. "That's good. Do you want to come back downstairs? Stefan and I have started a game of poker if you want us to deal you in." They heard a door opening downstairs. "And it sounds like your father is back from taking Elena home."

"Lead the way," Selina said simply and followed him downstairs.

She won six games of poker quite handily and only went upstairs with Damon after both brothers decreed that they didn't have anything else to lose to her. "Are you really going to be all right?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," Selina nodded. "Mainly because of you. Did you know you were so good at giving pep talks?"

He nodded. "I knew I was good at giving _you_ pep talks. I know you too well not to be good at it."

She grinned and put on a night gown, then climbed into bed. "I think I'll sleep well tonight, and things will look much brighter tomorrow."

* * *

And things _did _seem much brighter when Selina opened her eyes the next morning. She sat up, took a deep breath, hopped out of bed, dressed, and much to her surprise, as well as everyone else's, she was downstairs just as her father, who was always the first one up, was coming into the kitchen,

"You seem much better today," he observed, grinning at her.

She nodded. "I am." She sat down at the table. "Do we have any orange juice?" she asked.

Matthew nodded and brought it out along with a glass. "I'm surprised to see you up. Stefan says you usually sleep in awhile."

Selina gestured toward the window. "Why waste such a nice day? In fact, I feel the urge to do something childish outdoors. Something childish and fun."

"Like what?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe I'll go to the park and blow soap bubbles, or look for shapes in the clouds."

Matthew grinned. "If you want to throw people off about your being a vampire, that's the perfect way to do it."

"I'm not doing it because of that," Selina replied after taking a drink. "I've been careful. I'm doing it because I think I take myself too seriously sometimes and I occasionally need to lighten up a little."

Matthew sat down. "I see. Well, I think it's wonderful. Have a good time."

Selina nodded. "I will."

"Oh my God."

Selina looked at Stefan who'd just entered the kitchen and at Damon who was standing right behind him. "Good morning, boys!"

"Damon," Stefan said, "do you see what I see?"

"You mean Selina being up before us due to some miracle of nature?"

"Exactly."

"It's nice out and I wanted to enjoy the day, that's all. In fact, I'm going to spend it at the park in celebration of my new sense of self-worth." She drained the rest of her orange juice and grabbed her purse. "Don't expect me back before dark."

"Don't forget to eat," Matthew reminded her. "And call every once in awhile to let us know you're alive."

Selina rolled her eyes and grinned. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?" she said playfully. "My father or something?"

"Yes," Matthew nodded. "Now you go on and have a good time, and we'll see you tonight."

Selina decided to walk to the park. But first, she stopped off for soap bubbles. The cashier gave her a strange look, but it didn't throw her off at all.

By the time she got to the park, it was already bustling with activity: People walking dogs, mothers with little kids in strollers, and the older people who sat on the benches by the pond with bread crumbs feeding the geese. Selina found an empty bench and pulled out a container of bubbles. She screwed the cap off, pulled the wand out of the solution, took a deep breath, and watched as the bubbles came forth. That went on until the container was empty, then she grabbed the blanket she'd brought and took it to an empty square of grass and la down on it to study the clouds. In five minutes, she found a castle, a duck, a dragon, and a dinosaur. But before she could see anymore, however, somebody interrupted.

"Hi Selina!" he said, standing over her.

Selina sat up. "Tyler, my God. Are you divining where I'm going to be now? I know why you're here, and the answer is still no. I don't want to meet whoever it is that you're trying to set me up with."

He sat down next to her. "What if I told you that I wasn't trying to set you up with him? What if he just wanted to see you again? It's been an awful long time since he's seen you and he's missed you horribly?"

"So it's somebody I know?"

Tyler nodded. "Of course it is. I wouldn't bring you to meet a total stranger. So will you see him?"

Selina thought a moment. "Do you _promise_ that this isn't a trick to get me away from Damon and into the arms of somebody else?"

"Yes," Tyler nodded. "Selina, we're family; would I lie to you?"

"Yes," Selina muttered under her breath. To Tyler, she said "Is he an ex-boyfriend of mine?"

Tyler shook his head. "No."

"Okay," Selina said. "I suppose if this isn't an ex of mine that you want me to meet, and you promise that you aren't trying to get me away from Damon, I'll come with you and meet whoever it is."

"Excellent," Tyler grinned. "My car's this way. Unless you brought yours and want to follow me back to the Museum."

"No," Selina shook her head. "It was such a nice day that I walked." She followed Tyler to his car, and sat in the front passenger's seat while he took the wheel after throwing her blanket in the trunk. "So," she asked eagerly as soon as they were moving, "who is this guy?"

"It's a surprise," Tyler said smiling. "But I bet you'll be happy to see him. He was _very _happy when he first saw you again."

They pulled up the drive to the Lockwood Mansion a few minutes later and Tyler parked in the garage.

"Where are your parents?" Selina asked, noticing that both of their cars were missing.

"They're at a couples' retreat," Tyler answered. "Trying to make another fruitless attempt at saving their failing marriage."

"Sorry," Selina said. "Touchy subject."

"No matter," Tyler opened the front door and they stepped inside. "Now," he said turning to her. "I want you to shut your eyes."

"Okay," Selina obeyed, shutting her eyes tight. She allowed Tyler to take her hand and lead her to a parlor, seating her in a red velvet overstuffed chair opposite his guest. "Can I open them now?" she asked.

"Yes," Tyler said.

Selina opened her eyes and gasped when she saw who was sitting opposite her.

"Hello, my dear Selina," he said, gazing at her rapturously.

Selina couldn't speak. It was several minutes before she got out the word "Michael?" she looked at Tyler, then back to the boy sitting across from her "Cousin Michael?" And then, she fainted.


	24. An Unlawful Union

"Selina? Selina! Are you all right?"

Selina opened her eyes slowly and sat up, staring in stunned silence at her cousin. "What the hell are you still doing here?" she asked finally. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"As are you, my dear," Michael said easily. "And yet, here we both are."

"You know what I mean, Michael," Selina said angrily. "Who turned you?"

Michael stood up and sat next to her. "Our charming cousin Katherine, of course. This was all her doing."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked through her teeth.

"Well, as you know, Father told me that the best thing for you would be to leave us and get married to somebody else rather than stay in the family, and of course I couldn't let that happen. Then I heard him talking to Aunt Amelia about how _he_ had proposed to you and how you'd accepted. And that was the last straw, really. I knew I had to do something to prevent the wedding."

"Michael," Selina said, sitting up, "what do you have against Damon anyway? He's not a bad guy."

"He is if he would abandon you in favor of your sister," Michael said simply. "Anyone who would have such disregard for you isn't worthy."

Selina frowned. "You and Katherine set him up and you know it, Michael. He didn't disregard me because that's how he actually felt. He disregarded me because Katherine used her powers to make him forget about me and fall in love with _her_."

Michael shook his head. "But that's beside the point. It happened, and you know you can do better."

"Are you insane?" Selina asked. "We're cousins! It's illegal for cousins to marry! Unless you were planning on holing me up at some convent, which let me assure you isn't going to happen."

"No, of course I wasn't going to do that," Michael assured her. "I was just going to find someone more reliable for you."

"Damon's plenty reliable," Selina shot back. "You just don't like him because your twisted mind sees him as competition."

"That's not quite true, dear," Michael countered. "I don't see him as competition. I just see him as someone who's not as good for you as you think."

"And what gives you the right to make that decision?" Selina asked. "And if you say it's because you're a man and thus you automatically know what's good for me, that is just bullshit. It's not 1864 anymore. I've grown up since then. And I'm perfectly capable of running my life on my own without help from anybody, _especially _the two of you. Now if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

"Suit yourself," Michael called after her. "But you _will_ be back, I assure you."

"The hell I will," Selina called over her shoulder. "You just crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of and never darken my doorway again."

"Selina," Tyler called. "How are you planning to get back? We brought my car and there's no way I'm driving you anywhere."

"Even if you wanted to, I wouldn't want you to trouble yourself. Walking back on my own will be no problem at all." And with that, Selina left the mansion, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

By the time she got back to the boardinghouse, she had a stitch in her side and was nearly out of breath. Matthew looked at her with concern as she practically fell in the front door, and then didn't get up right away. "You're back early," he commented. "Did you have fun?"

Selina stood up and forced herself to walk over to the couch. "I _did_ have fun. Until Tyler showed up."

"What happened?" Stefan asked.

"Something not good. You know how when we went to the tomb to resurrect Katherine, there was a body missing?"

"Yeah," Damon said. "Do you know who it is? Was? Whatever?"

"Yes," Selina nodded. "And let me just say right now, we all owe you a big apology."

"Thank you," he replied. Then, he frowned. "Why?"

"Well," Selina said carefully, "you know how you thought for years that Michael had it in for you and all he wanted was to split us up so that he could have me for himself? And how we always dismissed your fears because we thought you were being ridiculous?"

"Yeah…?" Damon said, still frowning.

"Well, it turns out we all owe you a big apology because you weren't being silly at all! Michael did want me away from you!"

"What!" Damon yelled. "Are you saying that _Michael_ is the vampire who's gone from the tomb? And he's walking around Mystic Falls right now? How the hell did that happen?"

"Same way a lot of people are here that shouldn't be. It was all Katherine," she replied dryly. "Michael didn't give me a whole lot of information, but he must have told Katherine at some point about wanting to get me away from you. And of course, since that's something that would make me miserable, she went for it."

"So the whole thing with Katherine was a set-up?" Damon asked.

"I guess," Selina replied. "Maybe Michael thought that once I found out you cheated on me, I would be hurt and run to him for comfort, or be so wounded that I would swear off men forever after."

"What about the bit with Dr. Stensrund?" Stefan asked. "Do you think he was in on it too?"

Selina shrugged. "I don't know. Michael didn't mention anything about Dr. Stensrund, and most of what I just told you is my own speculation, but it makes sense."

"So where's Michael now?" Damon asked. "I'd like to give him a piece of my mind."

"He's with Tyler back at the Mansion. But I don't think we should barge in there just yet. We need time to think up a plan."

"I think the best thing would be for _you_ to deal with this, Selina," Matthew said. "You're clearly the one Michael's most interested in, and you're the most unlikely to get hurt."

"So what should I do?" Selina asked. "Clearly, just asking him to leave isn't going to cut it. He genuinely believes he's doing what's best for me."

Just then, the front doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Stefan said. "You keep brainstorming." He came back a few minutes later, followed by Elena.

"What are we talking about?" she asked.

"Well for starters," Damon said with a small smile, "I was right and you were wrong, so you can apologize now."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Her cousin Michael wanted to get rid of me because he had a crush on her. I told you."

"How do we know this?" Elena asked, sitting next to Selina on the couch.

"Remember when we went to call Katherine up at the tomb, and we found a body missing? Well, apparently that body was my cousin Michael. Tyler called him up somehow so we could have a romantic reunion. I was at the park when Tyler showed up and told me he had someone he wanted me to meet. I went with him, and there was Michael, right in front of me and as alive as the day I last saw him."

"And he told you he wants you away from Damon," Elena added.

"Yep," Selina nodded. "He said I could do better because anyone who would abandon me and run off with my sister isn't worthy of me."

"But that was a set up!" Damon protested. "If Katherine hadn't showed up and used her powers on me, nothing would have happened.

"I know," Selina assured him. "That's what I told Michael, but he still wasn't convinced."

"Do you think he's going to try and come back for you?" Elena asked.

"I don't doubt it," Selina replied. "It's probably only a matter of time."

For the rest of the day, none of them left the boarding house, and Selina especially didn't spend any time alone. It wasn't that she was afraid of Michael, it was just that being kidnapped was a chance she wasn't willing to take.

When nothing had happened by nightfall, she felt herself start to relax.

"Maybe he's lost interest," she told Damon as they were preparing to go to bed that night. "There's probably nothing to worry about anymore."

Just then, there was a knock at their bedroom door.

"Come in," Selina called.

Stefan entered, holding the phone in one hand. "It's the Sheriff," he said, holding the phone out to Damon. "She says she needs your help with a job that can't wait until morning.

"But I can't leave her," Damon gestured at Selina. "Not with that cousin of hers out and about."

"Oh, go ahead and go," Selina told him. "I can handle anything Michael dishes out, don't worry."

* * *

"That really was genius," Michael commented as he watched Tyler hang up the phone. "With Salvatore out of the way, it will be so easy to get to her."

"It's just one of the perks of ruling the town," Tyler told him, grinning briefly. "So we're going to get her tonight, right?"

"Of course we are," Michael said. "Let's wait another hour and then go get her."

When they arrived at the boarding house, they decided that Tyler would stand guard outside, and Michael would actually go into the boarding house and get Selina. The room she shared with Damon was on the lower floor, so it wasn't hard to pick the lock on the window and sneak in, get Selina, and sneak back out. And Michael made it so she would sleep until they were ready to have her wake up.

They put her in the back of Tyler's car and drove to the crypt, bringing her in amongst the bodies and laying her down on an unoccupied, cobweb-covered slab. They then pulled an old, slightly yellowed wedding dress out from a sack they'd brought with them and slipped it over her, placing slippers on her feet.

Then, Tyler went back to the car to grab one more thing: blood. Michael had managed to procure it somehow. He brought it back and began giving it to the vampires, who began to stir one by one. And as they did, so did Selina. She sat up, and screamed.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked, her eyes wide with terror at the sight of the vampires around her coming back to life. "What's going on?"

"You're at our wedding of course," Michael said. "In the presence of God and all these witnesses, you and I are going to become man and wife."


	25. I Do, I Don't

Selina's eyes widened. "You can't be serious, Michael!"

He nodded. "I am. I wouldn't lie about something like that."

"But _why_ are you doing this to me?" Selina asked. "Do you genuinely care about me, or have you just lost your mind?"

Michael shook his head. "I assure you, my mind is perfectly sound. You may not see it now, but this is what is best for you."

"No it isn't!" Selina felt herself begin to shake. "The best thing would be for you to allow me to marry Damon like I was supposed to 145 years ago while you go find yourself a nice girl. I'm sure there are plenty out there who would go for someone like you."

"No one else matters," Michael replied. "Just you. I have to save you from yourself."

Selina was silent a moment. Clearly, he had a one-track mind and it would be no use trying to convince him of any other plans of action. "All right," she said at last, "I'll marry you. But first, I want you to tell me exactly what happened between you and Katherine. And how Dr. Stensrund was involved. The man was friends with my father and thought of me as another daughter. What was it that made him fall in love with me and want to turn me?"

"All right," Michael said, standing next to her and taking her hand, allowing her to sit upright. "I suppose I do owe you that story. But afterwards, we're getting married."

"All right," Selina nodded, taking a deep breath.

"It all started prior to your engagement," Michael began. "Aunt Amelia stopped by one day to tell father that she'd spoken with Giuseppe Salvatore about Damon asking for your hand. I overheard the conversation and as you can guess, wasn't too happy about it. After Aunt Amelia left, I asked Father what he thought, if he'd advised Aunt Amelia against the marriage. He said he hadn't, and in fact thought that you two were a good match."

"So why didn't you believe him?" Selina asked. "Why is it that you're so attached to me that you've probably thought of nothing else but this for 145 years?"

"Well who else was there for you?!" Michael burst out passionately. "For years you were at home with Aunt Amelia and that _man_ she married who mistreated you. And you couldn't fight back. You were helpless against him and there was no one who could fight for you…except me. And I was happy to do it. I only wish that I'd been able to kill him. Unfortunately though, someone beat me to it."

Selina nodded. "That was my father. So you're not entirely correct when you say that there was no one out there to fight for me. My father was. He just wiped my memory of every encounter we had so I wouldn't go talking about them to Mama." She paused. "All right. So you were against my marriage to Damon after you heard your father talking about it with Mama; what happened next?"

"Well," Michael continued, "I went to your house the next day. That's when I ran into Katherine. I told her what was going on, and she told me that she had a plan that would be mutually beneficial for us: She would get Damon Salvatore and his brother out of the way, and ruin your life, which would make her happy, and I would get to comfort you in your sorrows after Katherine did her work, which would make me happy.

"And Dr. Stensrund?" Selina asked, sickened. "Where does he come in?"

"Just a minute, I'm getting to him," Michael said. "Because separating you and Damon would be so detrimental to you, Katherine decided to reward me for giving her the pleasure by turning me. Then, I asked about you. Obviously, she couldn't turn you, but she knew that Dr. Stensrund was a vampire as well and figured he could do the job. She said he was a sentimental old fool who'd be easily manipulated into doing as she asked. So she and Emily came up with the plan to make you ill so you'd have to see him."

"When they gave me scarlet fever," Selina said.

"Yes," Michael nodded. "They knew he cared for you, so as soon as he found out you were ill, he'd take you away to be cured immediately. But before they made you ill, they went to his house and made him believe that he was in love with you. She said that was so simple it was ridiculous. Then, they made you ill."

"And I went to Dr. Stensrund's house, he turned me, and the rest is history," Selina supplied. "But here's what I don't get." She paused. The reawakened vampires were beginning to get restless. Some were creeping around her, looking at her as if she were a snack.

"Back!" Michael ordered them. They slunk back to the walls of the tomb and didn't move again. He turned back to Selina. "What is it?"

"Well, if the plan was for me to run away with you after I was turned, why did Katherine make Dr. Stensrund believe he was in love with me? That seems counterproductive if you ask me."

"She knew that was the only way he would change you. Nothing else would make him do such a thing to you."

"So basically, the reason why Dr. Stensrund was the one to turn me was because he was closest and Katherine couldn't think of anyone else?"

Michael nodded. "It _is _actually that simple."

Selina smirked. "And since she basically ruined his life afterwards, I bet getting him involved was an added bonus. Katherine was never happy unless she was making someone else miserable." She paused. "When you found me in the woods and gave me the newspaper, had you been turned yet?"

Michael nodded. "Yes, that was just after Katherine turned me. Father found out of course and put me down here along with the others when the town was cleansed. I never understood why he spared me; I thought he would have just staked me, finished me off."

"It was probably because even though you were a blood-sucking monster, you were still his son. And he liked you. Even if he didn't actually show it," Selina said.

"All right," Michael stepped back, and Selina felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head. "Now that you know the story, it's time to get back the matter at hand. And there will be no more interruptions."

* * *

"How'd things go with the sheriff?" Stefan asked. "Was it a big problem?"

"She wanted to talk about further measures to protect the town. Apparently, somebody called about suspicious behavior down at the cemetery. Probably they saw Tyler and whoever else resurrecting Michael. The sheriff said if one is out, more will soon follow and we have to be prepared."

Stefan gave a small smile. "Well, you just never know, do you? Are you going to go back upstairs and check on Selina?"

Damon nodded. "Did you notice or anyone suspicious coming around last night?"

Stefan shook his head. "I didn't."

"I didn't either," Matthew said as he entered the room. "I think she's okay. We would have heard if someone was coming to get her."

"You're right. In order to pull off a kidnapping and get off scot-free, you have to have brains, which Tyler seems to lack."

"What about Michael?" Stefan asked.

Damon put one foot on the bottom stair and turned to face the other two. "If he so much as lays a hand on her, he is going to be very, very sorry."

He continued up the stairs and into their bedroom.

"What do you see?" Stefan called back. "Is she there?"

"No," Damon came out, shaking with anger. "She's gone. He and Tyler must've gotten her last night."

He came back down the stairs. "We have to find her. Who knows what he's had time to do?"

"Now let's just calm down a minute," Matthew said. "We don't even know where Michael took her."

"Well, how are we going to find out?" Damon asked through his teeth.

"I know a way," Stefan said. "Grab something of hers and then let's go to my car."

With Stefan driving at breakneck speed, they made it to Bonnie's in ten minutes. Stefan knocked on the door, thankful that it was Bonnie who answered. "What is it, Stefan?" she asked. Then, she saw the looks on their faces. "What's happened?"

"Selina's been kidnapped," Stefan replied. "She was taken from the boarding house last night, we have no idea where she is, and we have good reason to believe that she is in real danger. Could you find her for us?"

Bonnie frowned. "I can try. Do you have something of hers with you? That's the easiest way to make a connection."

Stefan nodded and gave her the object. It was the old picture of Selina that Damon kept under his mattress. Bonnie took it in her hands and sat down on the front steps, closing her eyes. "Now, just let me get in contact with her." After a moment, she began to get an image of Selina. First it was fuzzy, then it became clearer. "She's at a wedding?...getting married…at the crypt!" Bonnie opened her eyes. "And there's a guy who looks almost exactly like Tyler there too. She's holding on the best she can, but you don't have much time. They're in the tomb. Go as fast as you can. But get wood first. And lots of it. You're going to need it."

"Thanks, Bonnie," Stefan said as they raced back to his car.

Before going to the cemetery, they did as Bonnie had instructed and grabbed any wooden object they could get their hands on. Pencils, tree branches, and a baseball bat that had been sitting in the attic of Matthew's old house. They threw all of it into the trunk and headed for the cemetery, hoping that they'd get there in time.

* * *

Selina stood staring straight ahead, trying not to move. It was just her luck that one of the vampires that had been stuck down here after the Great Purge was a minister. She hadn't wanted to do this of course, but she really didn't see any way out of it. Michael's brain was clearly gone. And if she didn't agree to his outrageous demands, he just might kill her. So, here she was, about to be married to him. She just hoped that Damon and Stefan had discovered she was gone and were coming to get her out.

"…And do you, Michael Lockwood, take this woman, Selina Amelia Elizabeth Warren to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Michael nodded, looking at her.

The priest turned to Selina. "And do you, Selina Amelia Elizabeth Warren, take this man, Michael Lockwood, to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Selina paused. She really didn't want to say yes of course. On the other hand, if she _did _say yes, she could always stake the priest afterwards and make the whole thing null and void. She'd taken too long. She could feel Michael's grip on her arm, painfully tight. Damon, she thought desperately, my God, Damon where the hell are you? "I do," she said meekly.

"Well _I_ don't."

Selina turned, spots dancing in front of her eyes. Was that Damon? And Stefan? And her father? Had they come to rescue her? Yes, they had.

Michael hissed, baring his fangs. "Well, you don't really matter, do you?"

Damon strode toward him with measured pace, his fury barely controlled. "Get the hell away from my wife," he whispered. "Before I tear your heart out."

Michael ever so gently pushed Selina away from him and approached Damon. "Are you saying you want to fight?" he asked.

"More then you'll ever know," Damon said and rushed at him, holding one of the tree branches like a sword. He went for Michael's heart, but missed. Michael came after him with a thrust, but was also unsuccessful. They were pretty evenly matched as far as skill and Selina could barely take her eyes off them.

She had to however, to help her father and Stefan deal with the hoard of undead that were swarming around them and attempting to break free of the tomb and get into town. Together, they managed to thin the herd. While dealing with a particularly nasty one, Selina got a look at Tyler's face. He watched the scene with an air of indifference, as if the scene below him had no effect on him at all.

After the vampires had been dealt with, Selina turned her attention back to Damon and Michael, who were still doing battle. Neither had yet gotten the upper hand, but just as she turned back to look, Damon's eyes met hers and with a sudden shift in position, he had Michael down on the ground and was twisting the branch into his chest. "Die, God damn you," he whispered, and with an angry hiss, Michael was no more.

At that moment, Tyler's face changed. He grabbed a branch that was lying on the ground unattended and came up behind Selina, intending to thrust it into her back. But Matthew saw him first and was faster. He ran at Tyler, managing to knock him away from Selina. But just as she turned to see what was happening, Tyler grinned a wicked grin and plunged the branch into Matthew's chest.

"Daddy!" Selina screamed, bursting into tears. She lowered herself down to the ground and sobbed a moment. Then, the tears dried on her cheeks and she became filled with anger, rushing Tyler, and hitting him so hard that he was unconscious. Then, everything was silent. Selina began to sob quietly. Damon and Stefan put their arms around her and just held on.


	26. Another Proposal

At the knock on her bedroom door, Selina opened her eyes but didn't bother sitting up in bed. It had been a week since her father's death and she hadn't left her room since except to feed. "Come in," she called tiredly.

The door opened slowly to reveal Stefan on the other side. "Do you want to try and venture out today, or do you still want to stay in?"

Selina sat up and shook her head. "I don't think I'm ready to go anywhere yet," she said.

Stefan proceeded into the room and sat next to her on the bed. "Do you think you're going to be all right?" he asked, putting his arms around her.

She nodded. "I think I will eventually, but it's just hard right now. I mean, my father got staked and it happened because of me."

"Selina, look at me," Stefan said. "What happened to your father wasn't your fault. Just like it wasn't your fault that you got kidnapped or that Michael was insane."

"I know, but I was the one who let Tyler into my life. If I hadn't been so stupid, they never would have gotten hold of me."

"All right," Stefan sighed. "Look at it this way: your father's death was worthwhile. He died saving you. That probably made up for all the guilt he's felt over the years."

"You make a good point," Selina said, thinking about how her father had left her and her mother to go off to war, and then their subsequent life with Mr. Pierce that was a result of it.

"Thanks," Stefan smiled at her and hugged her one more time. "So are you ready to venture out?" he asked her again. "Because remember, you haven't left except to feed in a week. Damon says if you don't come out soon, he's going to be taking drastic measures."

Selina laughed a little. "Well we can't have that." She stood up slowly and looked down at the sweatpants and oversized t-shirt she was wearing. All her outfits for the past week had been variations of this. "Jeepers, I really have let myself go, haven't I?"

Without waiting for him to reply, she headed into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

Stefan left the room, starting slightly when he opened the door and found Damon standing on the other side.

"So is she okay?" he asked.

Stefan nodded. "I think she will be. She was feeling like her father's death was her fault, but I convinced her it wasn't. She's up and about now."

Damon nodded. "Good." He paused. "Elena's downstairs."

"Thanks." Stefan took the stairs two at a time. He found Elena sitting on one of the couches in the living room, a rain coat folded on the cushion beside her. "Morning," she said brightly.

"Good morning," Stefan replied. Something in his tone made Elena frown a little.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Did something bad happen that I don't know about?"

"Well," Stefan said, "remember Selina's cousin Michael that had a crush on her and tried to keep her away from Damon? And how he got out of the tomb with Tyler's help?"

"Yeah," Elena replied. "What about it?"

"Well, about a week ago, Tyler and Michael kidnapped Selina in the middle of the night and took her down to the tomb for an impromptu wedding."

"What?" Elena said.

"It's true," Stefan replied. "Just grabbed her right out of her bed."

"So are Selina and Michael married now, then?" Elena asked.

"No," Stefan shook his head. "Damon killed Michael so he's completely out of the picture."

"Well that's good," Elena said.

Stefan nodded. "But there's something else that isn't so good; Michael had Tyler bring a bunch of blood with them when they brought Selina down to the tomb so all the vampires that were down there could be temporarily revived and be "witnesses" at the wedding. As soon as we found out that Selina was missing, Damon, Matthew and I went to Bonnie's house and she told us where Selina was and to bring a lot of wood so we could stake all the vampires that had been resurrected, but after Damon staked Michael, Tyler tried to stake Selina. Matthew pushed her out of the way and was staked himself in the process."

"Oh." Elena took a deep breath. "How's Selina taking it?"

"She's mostly been in her room for the last week," Stefan said. "She's only come out to feed. But today, I helped her realize that Matthew's death wasn't her fault, and saving her life was probably good for him because it helped alleviate a lot of his guilt."

"Well that's good," Elena said. "Is she talking to people besides you?"

Stefan nodded. "All you have to do is knock. But I'd wait awhile. Damon was outside her door after I talked to her. They're probably having a talk of their own now."

* * *

Just after Selina finished dressing in jeans and a teal short-sleeved blouse, there was another knock on her door. "Come in," she called again. She expected Stefan again, so when she saw it was Damon on the other side, she was more then a little surprised. "Stefan said you were up and about," he told her.

Selina nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am. What can I do for you?"

"Are you going to be okay?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm more okay than I was." She pulled out her mother's journal once more. "Mama put tons of stuff about Daddy in here, and I'm thinking it help me work through things." As she held the journal up, something fluttered out from between the pages and onto the floor. Selina picked it up and looked at it. "Oh, my God," she said, holding it up to Damon. "Look at this: it's a miniature of my father."

Damon looked at it. "It's a good likeness…for a painting."

Selina put the journal down on the bed and looked at Damon. "So what brings you up here?" she asked.

"I wanted to show you something," Damon said. "And ask you a favor."

"What favor?" Selina asked.

"Well," he pulled something out from behind his back and showed it to her. "It's about this."

It was the picture of her that she'd given Damon before he'd shipped out.

"What about it?" Selina asked.

"Well," Damon said slowly, "I was thinking: you broke your locket, and while I was initially opposed to your doing that, now I'm starting to think that wasn't such a bad idea."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked.

"Well," Damon replied, "think about it: the necklace and this picture are things that we gave each other 145 years ago. Our relationship was different then. We were different people. And maybe having those things around was a bad thing. I mean, we've changed and our relationship has changed." He held up the picture of Selina in her ringlets, frilly dress, and parasol. "You're obviously not like this anymore."

Selina took the picture from him. "No I'm not, and thank God."

"And I've changed from the guy whose picture was in the locket," Damon added.

"_That_ is a bit of an understatement," Selina said, looking up and grinning.

"Yeah, yeah." Damon grinned with her. "So I was thinking that since we _have_ changed so much, keeping these momentos that we gave each other 145 years ago would just be holding us back. By getting rid of them, it'll be easier to focus on now."

"Wow," Selina said, looking at him. "That's very deep thinking. So you're saying you want to get rid of the picture."

"Yep," he nodded. "And maybe have an updated version?"

"Okay," Selina agreed. "Where do you want to take it?"

"Outside," Damon said immediately.

They headed downstairs, old Polaroid camera in hand, and out to the front of the boarding house.

"All right," Selina said. "What now?"

Damon thought a moment. "Would you sit on the hood of my car?"

Selina smiled. "You want me to pull a Tawny Kitaen?

"No," Damon shook his head. "Just sit."

Selina boosted herself on the hood of Damon's car and smiled as he held up the camera. After the shutter clicked, he put the camera down on the driveway and looked up at her.

"Good picture?" Selina asked.

As it came out of the camera and developed, Damon looked it over. "Yep," he said after a moment. "You know, you photograph really well."

"Thank you," Selina said, coming to stand beside him and look at it.

"What are you guys doing?"

Selina looked up and saw Stefan and Elena approaching. "We're doing some updating," she said.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Well," Selina said, "You know that old picture of me he kept under his mattress? Well, we decided that needed to be updated since I'm not like that anymore."

"So what are you going to do with the old picture?"

"I think I'm going to get rid of it, like Selina did with the locket," Damon said.

"Speaking of the locket," Selina said suddenly, "The picture we just took compensates for what you lost, but what's going to replace the locket?"

Just then, Damon looked at Stefan. "Should I give it to her now?" he asked.

Stefan nodded. "I think so."

"Give me what?" Selina asked, looking between them. That was when she noticed the bulge in Damon's shirt pocket. "What's in your shirt?"

Damon smiled, pulling it out slowly. "Something I should have given you a long time ago."

To Selina's amazement, he got down on one knee, opening the box toward her. "Selina Amelia Elizabeth Warren, will you marry me…for real this time?"

"Oh, my God! Yes!" Although she was in shock, she still managed to get the words out. She put the ring on her finger and then she and Damon embraced. Stefan picked the camera up off the ground and held it up.

"I think we need to get a picture of this," he said to Elena. "Don't you agree?"

"I do," Elena nodded.

They got Damon and Selina to stand facing one another, looking into each other's eyes. Stefan snapped the picture and then Damon and Selina separated. Then, Selina looked at Damon. "I think one more picture is necessary," she said. She stood next to Damon and motioned for Stefan and Elena to join them. When the four of them were close together, Selina snapped a final picture. Then, they headed inside and lined them up on the mantel.

"So," Elena said after a moment. "I guess there's only one question left: When's the wedding?"

A/n- Don't worry everyone. There will be a sequel to this...in fact, there will be three! First one is Lady in Red 2: Angel in Disguise


End file.
